TSC02 Carpe Tempus
by Jonn Wolfe
Summary: Semi Prequel to "Two and a Half Doctors". An unexpected visit sends John Smith and Rose Tyler searching for the Doctor. When they find him, all hell breaks loose in an underwater base off the coast of Florida. Mostly 'T', but will hit 'M' round the end.
1. Oh Crap!

**Carpe Tempus**  
_Chapter One_

* * *

Pairings: **  
Tennant/Piper **Time, Space, and Chips Continuum**  
Matt Smith **Post Big Bang

Guests: Pasephea Tyler, Jack Harkness

Rating: NC-17

**Notes: **From the hints I gave in Two and a Half Doctors, I was asked to write how Eleven and the Metacrisis met. Well, this is based on a RP site (Time Space & Chips) and rather than just throw together and plagiarize everything, I'm rewriting this as if it were in a book or on the screen instead of a back and forth roleplay, making some alterations here and there as I see fit and what would work best. _Also doing it completely from memory, lest I actually steal lines... well, except mine of course._

The threads in question are 'London. No Place Like It!', 'Project: Shatterpoint', and 'Apples and Pears'. Hit my bio for the link to the site, if you're curious. Hoping this will turn out like an actual two hour episode that would most likely happen after 9pm, hence the swearing that's going on... as well as the bit of... shall we say... _explicitness_ that happens round the end. This is why it's rated 'M'.

Enjoy

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At the tender age of nineteen, a young girl was given a car for her birthday. Well, this car wasn't exactly a car. It just looked like one, a metallic silver BMW to be precise. Well, it was _now _anyway. No telling what it'd be tomorrow. Sure, it could be driven around like the real thing, but you could pop under the seat into the ship that was within. And what a ship her baby was. Sure, he was a baby. Only had enough rooms for a kitchen, a bedroom, cloister room, and the console room of course, but it was _hers_, and she loved the wonderful dear.

Her first trip was a bit... well... off? Instead of hitting some planet, she ramrodded headfirst into docking with her ship's grandmother after going through what only could be described as a time storm. That was a sight. Her uncle was completely speechless. _Well_, after going round the bend trying to figure out who she was of course, not to mention how she got onboard. Kept asking if it was her wedding day for some reason. Looked just like her dad too, only more talkative. And good _Lord_ that man could talk!

Well, anyway. After getting the whole 'you're in the wrong universe' bit sorted out, she decided to hit London to go shopping. Well, that was the intention anyway. She spent a good two hours just marveling at how empty the sky was without all the zeppelins floating about. It was weird. Well that, and the extremely comforting feeling she had in the back of her mind. So many minds whirring and jabbering, it was really comforting just feeling that bit of white noise. No wonder her uncle talked as much as he did. The absolute silence from the absence of anything must have driven him mental.

She was walking along and got a whiff of something positively delicious. Staring at where the smell of chips was coming from, she was startled to see her father shuffling his feet and heading into the same chippy she was being drawn to. He looked and felt so sad. _'Where's mum?'_ she thought. Squaring her shoulders, Phea ran in behind him. Daddy being upset was _wrong_, and she was going to fix it!

She got completely distracted by the inside of the chippy. This one was a bit more like a pub, what with the bar and stools. Only, there wasn't any hard liquor about. Strange. Well, anyway. Noticing that her dad was on one of the stools, she sat next to him and stopped cold. Same jeans. Same chocolate brown jacket. Almost surely, his feet were being warmed by a set of some colour of trainers, but there was something decidedly _off_. His hair was just as messy as it's ever been, but the colour was... _'Oh shit, where's his silver sideburns?'_ she thought.

Phea blanched as the colour drained from her face. She was distracted by the waiter or barman or whatever that bloke was, and she ordered some chips and a ginger beer. She'd jumped timelines. The one thing her father swore her to _never_ do, and here she was next to a younger version of the same man. She was in SO much trouble now.

Thing is though, he felt so crushingly _miserable _to her. She listened to him order the exact same thing she did not two seconds ago, and the tone of his voice was breaking her hearts. She wanted to just wrap him up in her arms and kiss his forehead, like he'd always do for her. Something he was fiddling with caught her attention though, and she glanced at his hands. A little burgundy felt box was spinning in his fingers. When she saw it as well as the pointedly _bare finger_ of his left hand, she nearly fainted dead away.

Slamming every door in her mind and deadlocking them, the only thought she had was _'Oh. My. God! He hasn't asked her to marry him yet!'_ Phea had to clamp her lungs shut and switch to her respiratory bypass, lest she made a scene from hyperventilating. As it was, her hearts were hammering so hard in her chest, she could swear everyone could hear them. Was this a predestination paradox? She hadn't planned on being here any more than she had in meeting her uncle, but here she was. Any wrong word now and she'd simply vanish.

For his part, Johnathon Smith was doing everything he could to think of the right words to say. Asking Rose to marry him was the biggest thing he'd ever do, and he _so _didn't want to cock this up. Every time they'd get close, this little wall of awkwardness would spring up in between them. It was so depressing. That wall had a name, and he _hated_ that man for it. He heard someone gasp quietly next to him, and he turned his head. The girl was cute, he noted, and looked positively _terrified_? "You all right, love?"

Mind going completely blank with fear, she turned her head and plastered a mask of calm on her face. "Doing the best I can, under the circumstances." _'Run! Run away! Shit, why can't I move?'_

John arched his brow at her. "Boyfriend trouble?" Well, it was the obvious question to ask. It was odd how her calm just curtained down like it did, but he could tell it was all a front. Something was bothering her. "John. John Smith, by the way."

"No," she sort of squeaked out. "Just marveling at my mum and dad's birthday present. He's parked across the street." She shook his offered hand. "Phea." _'Stand up... walk to the door... run for the TARDIS. How hard is that?'_

"Oh, got a car then? That's lovely, Pheabird," he said. "Call it a he, then? Usually motors, boats, planes and the like are all girls," he smirked.

"Definitely a he," she haltingly chuckled. "I think he'd breakdown or something if I called him a girl." _'Holy crap, he just called me by my nickname,'_ she smiled wide despite herself.

They were briefly interrupted by the arrival of their chips and ginger beers. John noticed their identical orders and quietly chuckled to himself. "Chips and beer. Good choice."

She let out an honest laugh. "Yeah, well my dad always said a good ginger beer goes down better with chips. Mum just likes chips."

"Hah! I'm the same way," John smiled. This was a good distraction for him. At least it was getting his mind out of that damnable circular reasoning he was caught in.

"So, who's the lucky lady?" Phea asked, pointing at the little box on the counter.

John's eyebrows went up, and he stuffed the little box inside his jacket pocket. "Oh, someone I've known for three years. _Well_, one. _Well_, it's complicated." He rubbed the back of his neck and frowned.

Phea snorted. He was embarrassed. "What relationship isn't? Is she pretty?"

"Oh, she's gorgeous," he said with a sigh. He popped a chip in his mouth and took a sip of his drink. "Hair's all golden; her eyes could honestly make me melt with just a glance."

Phea couldn't help the little '_awwuh_' that came out of her mouth. This was back when her mother still bleached her hair. She gave him a wistful smile, but came up short when he stared at her own eyes. "What? Have I got somethin' on my face?"

Those eyes looked awfully familiar to him for some reason. "No no. You just look like someone I know, and I can't place it." Her nervous turn to nibble on her chips made him focus on his. "It'll come to me. Probably remind me of someone I've seen on the telly."

Phea cleared her throat. "Nope, sorry. Much as an actor's life appeals to me, I'd rather be shot with louverian thorns," she frowned.

That got his attention, and his latest chip froze just inches from his gob. Those only existed in one place, and it definitely _wasn't_ Earth. And if that hadn't alerted him, then the hand coming up to her mouth with her wide eyed expression of embarrassment would have. "Come again?" he asked.

"Nothing. Just an expression or something." _'Oh shit. I'm on his radar now,_' she thought as she gulped down a few swallows of her ginger beer. She tried looking anywhere but in his direction.

John's mind was going through some calculations, and he decided to round about interrogate her... sort of, at any rate. This could be a bit of fun, but he was all for running if this went cockeyed. "So what kind of car did they get you?"

"Hmm?" she paused. What did it change into this time? "He's silver. A real hot rod. Oh, a beamer."

"Oh, one of those little two seaters?" His eyebrows went up, thinking. "Bit small," he said with a frown.

She chuckled and fell for the trap. "Oh, he'll fool you. Has a lot of space in the boot."

John smirked. "Bigger on the inside, eh?"

She chuckled. "You could say that." Then her face froze in a comical expression of 'I've been had.' She swallowed nervously and stuffed four whole chips in her mouth, then tried her best to not look like a deer caught in the headlights. She failed... rather _spectacularly_.

John turned to look at her directly. "All right, who _are_ you? Louverian thorns aren't exactly local, you know."

_'Shit, Shit, SHIT! Busted!' _she started to panic. "No one special, just a student," she said a bit too fast.

"Right," he said, disbelievingly. "And I'm the King of all Londinium with a shiny hat. Spill it girly." Okay, she was looking like she was about to bolt out of there at any second. Her fishing out her quid to put it on the bar only heightened that impression. Then her doe eyed expression as she stared at him clicked something in his head. _'No... No Way. She looks like... Both of us! But is she his or mine? Better not be his. I'll gladly relieve him of those last three regenera... Oh, who am I kidding? If she goes, she goes. Her happiness is all that matters.'_

She watched him mirroring her with plopping money on the counter, and tried to keep her emotions in check. This was _beyond_ dangerous territory now. Her very _existence_ was at stake! She chanced a look in his direction and realized what a mistake _that _was. His eyes were as big as hers now. _'Fuck! He knows!'_

Not wanting to be the one to break first, John came up with an idea. Grinning, he said, "C'mon, Rose should be here any minute from her shopping spree. I'll introduce you," he smiled. Turning in his stool, John stood and turned for the door, smirking to himself.

Screw panic, Phea was headlong into a full on nutter now. "Da-... _John_! That's not such a good idea!"

That aborted syllable cinched it. Not 'Do' as in Doctor, but 'Da' as in _Dad_! A spark hit that manic nerve in John's cerebellum, and his smirk spread into a full on split faced and toothy, shit eating smile. Spinning about, he pointed at her. "Hah! Gotcha! _Hand_ in the biscuit bin!" He laughed as Phea slammed both hands over her mouth. "Oh yes! No doubt I would've told you just how bad an idea this would be, but you're here!" A tittering giggle came out of his gob, and he honestly didn't care how girly that sounded. She was his! That meant that Rose will say yes! He was on top of the entire bloody _world_ now. "_Well_, I mean coming from me like you do, I'd expect nothing less!"

Phea turned her frightened expression to the other patrons, who were looking at them both rather strangely now. This was not the place for that sort of conversation. She literally jumped out of her stool, grabbed his hand, and ran out the door. She was hardly surprised at how easy it was to drag him along. How often did anyone in her family clasp hands and run? Her father was literally cackling at this point, and she didn't stop running until they got to a bus stop.

He was surprised when Phea turned around suddenly, with tears in her eyes. "I'm sorry! I didn't mean to be here! This was a complete accident! Went through some sort of time storm and he hasn't been right since! I was aiming for twenty thirty four! The zeppelins are _gone_, and I don't know what's happening!"

"Whoa whoa whoa whoa!" John said, steadying her by her shoulders. "You're not in trouble, dear. In fact, you've just now given me the right kick in my arse to get off said posterior and ask your mother to marry me! I should be _thanking_ you! In fact," he pulled her into a hug and kissed the top of her head, "Thank you. You have _no_ idea what your being here means to me." To himself, he was slightly worried. She mentioned the dirigibles... Well, the _lack _of them at any rate. That was bad, because that would mean that she was caught up in the same thing that he, Rose, and her entire family were not a month ago. _That_ was one hell of a trip. If she remembered the zeppelins... _'Oh no. Is she a living paradox?' _he thought, completely alarmed now.

Phea let the scent of time, sweat, oil, and books wash over her as her father held her. Instinctively, her arms wrapped around his middle and nearly cut off his air supply with how tight she clung to him. She was shaking uncontrollably now, but she couldn't help but smile though. She never felt safer than when she was in her father's arms.

Once she settled down, John pulled back a bit. "So, what's it like being a predestination paradox, eh?" Well, he was hoping that was it. He might fall apart if she just faded out of existence now. "I mean, I've been through a few of those before, but never been one _myself_. Kinda exciting, I would think?"

Phea's face was a mixture of a happy smile, and outright terror. "You have _no_ idea." Her breathing was rather ragged, and for some reason she couldn't go back to her bypass. "I feel like I'm about to come outta my _skin_!"

A thought occurred to John. "Where are _we _anyway? I'd think your mother and I would be close by..." he blinked and realized what she said earlier. "Oh wait, you said this was an accident."

"You know I'd love to tell you, but I..." she paled even further now. A more than familiar woman was standing behind her father. She was blond now, but that didn't matter in the slightest. If the look on her face was any indication, she was trying to burn a hole through her father's back. "Oh God." That look meant there was going to be a round of shouting and slapping any minute. She felt a headache coming on.

John's face screwed up with confusion. "What? What's the," he heard something crumple on the sidewalk, "matter?" Then he felt a sharp poking jab at his shoulder. He turned slightly to look over said shoulder with a, "Hmm?"

Standing behind him was the woman he was going to propose to. She had her hands on her hips and was glaring at him. "Uh... hello?" she said, tilting her head. "What the hell is this?" she half yelled.

"This was such a bad idea..." Phea whimpered.


	2. This is So Wrong

**Carpe Tempus**  
_Chapter Two_

**A/N:** _Before I go any further with this, I should point out that the plot and such wasn't entirely my idea. It was a group effort, even though this rendition is my interpretation of it. _

_Thanks go to Centauri, who plays the Doctor; Thallie, who plays Rose Tyler; Bekah, who plays Pasephea Tyler; and Lia, who plays Jack Harkness... even though Jack didn't have any real part in this. I myself play the Metacrisis over there. While we had someone sign up for Pete Tyler, they haven't actually been around since they were accepted, so that bit when I get to it is straight outta my own head, same with Jack when that bit comes around too. Special thanks go to Centauri who was the main development of the Shatterpoint Plot. He's awesome!

* * *

_

Rose Tyler was simply beside herself in quiet contentment. No more bloody alternate Torchwood from hell, no more wild arsed checkpoints on the street, no more lack of bloody tea for cryin' out loud, and no goddamned '_Henry_ Potter'. _God, that was so wrong_. It'd been only a month since that weird bouncy rip thing dragged everyone she loved through the void in their newly grown TARDIS, and she simply loved it.

It'd been really lucky that they were all aboard; Mum, 'dad', Tony, and of course John. He'd been an absolute _pill _for months, until he finally came out of his funk when their TARDIS was ready to fly. In his excitement, he made a really heartfelt apology to everyone for his behavior... _especially_ her. Now _that_ was a kiss!

To make up for his months long grump, he invited the entire family on a tour of the solar system. Tony had so wanted to see Saturn, that mum crumbled and came along with. She wasn't about to let her five year old son out of her sight. 'Dad' came along just to keep an eye out on the family.

Pete was acting weird that entire day, hinting at something fantastic. She had no idea what he was talking about, and any asking was answered with only, 'Wait and see. He's gonna surprise you, luv.' She _still_ had absolutely no clue that John was going to propose that day. Pete was just waiting for those doors to open to see Jupiter, and he and his wife both were anticipating the time when John was going to go down on his knee.

That didn't happen though, unfortunately. After everyone was settled into the baby TARDIS, the whole thing shook before John had a chance to even come near the controls. John had opened the door to see why there was an earthquake, and everyone nearly shrieked when they didn't see anything outside the doors except the moon.

A few quick scans later, and everything was even more confusing. There wasn't any world wide satellite communications network, no comms from any of the defence platforms, and no bloody defence platforms _themselves_ either. After taking them back to London, they found something else missing too. The skies were completely devoid of zeppelins. They were home?

The whole thing was completely surreal. John immediately took them to Cardiff and had a rather lengthy discussion with Jack. Yeah, that's right... Jack. There was no telling what had happened, but several people all across the globe either just appeared, 'came back to life', or something equally ludicrous. All of them had the same things in common too: The universe they were all plucked from, and not one of them had a counterpart here. Well, there was that set of twins. But according to those two, the other twin had died.

It didn't make any sense. According to Jack, there wasn't _any_ rift activity. It was like the universe just simply 'hiccuped' as he called it. Jackie was somewhere between happy and terrified, but Pete was completely _mortified_. His entire fortune was in another universe!

Still though, everything seemed to work out all right. Since Pete had a hell of a lot of experience with the other Torchwood as the lead Director, Jack helped him set up a separate branch in London. It wasn't in Canary Warf though. No one wanted _anything_ to do with those towers. Instead, Jack bought out an entire building in the middle of London itself. It was across the Thames from the London Eye, and down the block from 10 Downing Street. Not too far from where Rose had pointed out something rather obvious to the Doctor the first day she met him.

Apparently this was nothing new for Jack, because the number for this new branch was 24. This meant that he'd been expanding Torchwood's influence since the last they saw him. He gave the entirety of Torchwood 24 to Pete, as well as a rather posh downtown flat. Rose and John had refused their own for obvious reasons. Why have someplace stationary to live, when their house roamed time and space?

After everything, this had been the first time since then that Rose had the ability to do something for herself for once. Of course, she couldn't say no to Pete when he offered her a position, John either for that matter. Consulting jobs sure, but still. John's only request was for something that just stunned people, instead of an actual gun. He wasn't as adverse to them as the other Doctor, but he still didn't want to kill anyone. Jack ended up handing his old sonic blaster over to him. It _did _have a stun setting after all.

As it was, Rose was relaxing on a bus after four solid hours of doing nothing but raiding the shops and getting primped. John had offered to come with, but she had other ideas. The hint of pink lace in one of her bags would come to particularly good use, when... _'Right'_.

She pursed her lips in frustration. There was that whole 'thing' that happened whenever they were alone and... well shit. Rose frowned at the bag in question, and wondered if she should've bothered getting that little bit of nothing at all now. Fourteen months of dancing around _dancing_. It was starting to get a bit ridiculous, and she was going to do something about that... _soon_.

Looking back up, she noticed her stop was coming up. They'd parked the TARDIS close to a local pub that sold the most glorious chips she'd ever tasted. Their girl was currently imitating a door and some steps against one of the buildings, and this stop was her current 'address'.

Gathering up her bags, she hopped off the bus and saw something that made her blood _freeze_. Some... skinny... _hag_ was busy hanging all over her man! _'Who the hell is that? I'm gonna kill'er. Then I'm gonna kill'im for falling for that fat cow. Then I'm gonna rip those eyes out of her sockets for even _looking_ at him! You Bitch!'_

Rose took two steps and almost smirked at the look of fear that skank gave her. _'Good, cuz you're gonna get so slapped!'_ Dropping her bags, she jabbed her newly manicured nails into John's shoulder and cleared her throat.

He turned around with an _oh_ so _innocent_ sounding 'hmm?', and she tried to make that fantastic hair of his combust by will alone. "Uh... hello?" she said, tilting her head. "What the hell is this?" she half yelled, half shrieked. That cow muttered something, but she missed it.

What surprised her was the smile John gave her. It wasn't one of his manic 'The world's gonna end, run!' ones. This was the one that so rarely came out any more. His face was practically glowing with... love? Her glare melted at the sight of it. Before it disappeared completely, she found herself swept up in a spinning hug.

"Hello gorgeous," John said rather loudly. Setting her down, John flat out snogged her while he crushed her to him. Rose's eyes fluttered shut as her eyes rolled back, and she was wondering why she was so mad in the first place. _'Of course he wouldn't cheat! He helps people! That's just what he does! She's gotta be lost or something.'_

Breaking the kiss, he hugged her even closer. Stealing a glance at the girl behind him, Rose was stunned to see an even bigger smile on _her_ face. And on top of that, it looked like she'd been crying because of her streaked mascara. It was so weird. It was like this chick _adored_ her or something. What the hell was going on?

Things turned right upside down when John started whispering in her ear. "Remember when you met your real dad? Well hang on to your socks, Blondie. The shoe's on the other foot now." Rose's mouth hung open. _'No... No, no. No, no, no. Not this! Omigod, Not This! NOT NOW!'_ her mind was spinning out of control. _'It's not fair!'_

John pulled back when Rose stiffened. "Rose?" His heart nearly stopped when he saw the look on her face. The last time he saw that expression, she'd just lost her grip on that damned lever at Canary Warf. Pure unadulterated _fear_ was radiating off of her in waves, and it absolutely _terrified_ him.

"I... I can't... d-_do_... this," Rose stuttered as her mind shut down. Daughter. She had a bleeding _daughter_ and they hadn't even had sex yet! If it wasn't for her grip on John's arms, she would've fallen over in a dead faint. She couldn't do anything except watch that girl's look of adoration turn into abject horror. She saw her wince and grab at her head in obvious pain.

Phea was panting now, her head hurt _so_ much. "Sorry," she whispered. "I'm so sorry. It was an accident! I'm not supposed to _be_ here!" _'Get away! Go! RUN!'_ She finally got control of her feet, and turned to flee across the street. "I'm so sorry!" she shrieked. She didn't hear the horn blaring as she was very nearly clipped by a car. She also didn't hear her father shouting after her, nor her mother either. All she could see or hear was her TARDIS and the promise of escape he represented.

Diving over the bonnet, she slid across it on her bum like an old television cop show. She was in the driver's seat and gripping the leather steering wheel with white knuckles before she knew it. "Go! Go Now!" Her TARDIS was appalled with worry. _Phea, what's wrong?_ she heard him in her head. "Just _Go_!" she shrieked. "Wrong Year!" Her mind whirled about. "Jack... Find Uncle Jack!" _'Uncle Jack? Who the hell is that?'_ she thought. "Cardiff! The bay! Torchwood Three! I'm gonna pass out... _GO DAMMIT_!" she shouted at the top of her lungs.

John and Rose had matching heart attacks when Phea was nearly struck by an SUV. He shouted 'Phea!' while she shrieked out 'No!' Then they watched her shouting behind the wheel of a BMW roadster, crying her eyes out. A very high pitched grinding noise of TARDIS engines started up, and the car faded from sight with blinking side lights.

"Oh god," John breathed, "Please don't disappear," he pleaded. Rose's shaking got his attention and he wrapped himself around her, pulling her head into his shoulder. "It's gonna be okay. It's gonna be okay. We're all right. You're all right. The world's right where it's supposed to be, I _swear_."

Rose just shook her head and tried to bury her eyes in his tee shirt, and hide under his jacket. This was so wrong! "No it's not," she said with her voice cracking. "I shoulda known this could happen. Did it to me mum and everything, I'm such a hypocrite!" She lost it then, and started bawling. "And I almost got her _killed_!"

John was hyperventilating at this point. He had absolutely no idea what to do now. He spotted a young kid eyeing Rose's shopping, and he snarled at him. "Get outta here!" The boy looked up sharply to see a _demon_ of a man glaring at him with pitch black eyes, and he fled as fast as his feet could carry him. All John could do now, was hold Rose as tightly to him as he possibly could without hurting her.

That snapped her out of her crying for the moment. "What was that?" Rose asked, turning her head up to look at him.

John shook his head. "Nothing. Some kid was eyeballing your bags, is all."

"Oh," she said rather lamely.

Swallowing, John came to his decision while she was staring up at him. "Rose, there's been something I've been putting off for a long time now. I was just too scared. Doesn't matter though, I'm past that now." He pulled his right arm out from around her and reached into his pocket. "I was going to do this in front of Jupiter, too," he muttered.

Feeling his arm shift out from around her, she followed the motion and stared at a small velvet box that John just pulled out of his jacket._ 'No. Please God, don't let him do this. Not now, I'm not ready!'_ Her silent and terrified prayer went unheeded. Prying the box open with his thumb, Rose watched as a fantastically gorgeous engagement ring came into view.

"Rose Marion Tyler, would you do me the honor of becoming my wife, and make me the happiest man in the universe?"


	3. What have I done?

**Carpe Tempus**  
_Chapter Three_

**A/N:** _Yeah, that was a bit Father's Day, wasn't it? It'll get worse before it gets better.

* * *

_

Rose couldn't breathe. All she could do was stare at the ring and try to catch her breath. Her eyes darted up to his, and she saw such hope in John's eyes. _'Say something!'_ she told herself. The only thing she could see though was that girl's face, and every future she thought could possibly happen simply fractured.

"I... She..." Rose swallowed and tried again. "We... I..." She saw his eyes go from hope to apprehension, and shook her head. "N-no."

John's emotions plummeted, following his heart to the pit of his stomach. His entire world just splintered apart into so many pieces. Rose saw the look on his face and felt positively horrible. She placed her hand on his cheek, and then the whole world just... stopped.

Panic, fear, and horror flew through him all at once. _'This can't be happening!'_ John's mind railed. Something odd got his attention, as the sounds of the city seemed to slow like an old gramophone that was winding down. Everything was pitching lower and lower, and then... silence.

They were stuck just staring at each other, and he couldn't move. Darting his eyes about, he could see that everything was on pause. From people mid step and automobiles that were 'parked' in the street, to a bit of paper that was frozen in the air... everything was still.

_'What the? I can't do that anymore! Well, obviously I can, but I can't move! I should be able to move! Why can't I fucking move?'_ John looked back to Rose's eyes, and he caught them slowly flicking about.

Rose was petrified. Nothing she tried worked. Her muscles simply refused to budge. She saw John's eyes darting every which way and realized he was similarly afflicted. _'Did he do this?'_ she thought, and was surprised when the muscles around her eyes flexed into a state of worry. Something odd nudged the back of her mind. It almost felt like their TARDIS, but it was more personal than that. Was it him?

_'She can't hear me. Think! Think, think, think!' _John closed his eyes and tried to center himself. He went over the past hour in his head. Everything from his circling worry over asking, to meeting their daughter, to Rose's reaction to turn about, to this horrible answer he'd been dreading. And all of a sudden it made sense. _'I AM SUCH A DUMBO!'_

His eyes snapped open to see Rose's panicking eyes, and ever so slowly the world started up again. They both gasped as the sounds of everything came back, and crushed each other in a frightful hug. "I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry. That was all my fault," John said into her hair. "It's just... Right."

Rose heard a snapping click, and she realized he'd closed the box. As if this day couldn't get any worse, she'd gone and broken his heart. She buried her face into his neck and tried not to cry. "It's okay. I just... I... she... Not now. I need to think. I can't think. It's like my _future's_ been stolen!" she whimpered.

John shushed her and held her tighter. "I'm sorry. It's all right. We don't have to worry about this now. Let's just get your stuff home, then maybe go visit Tony and mum?"

Rose shook her head. "I want chips. No family night. Just us in the den. Movie. _Some_thing." She was babbling and she knew it. "I'm hungry," she said rather lamely.

John nodded and collected her bags. Stepping back into the pub, they got some take out. Rose got pork with her chips, and he got some bangers to go with his, even though he already ate. They were arm in arm and quiet on their way back to their 'flat'.

They didn't split up until after they were in the TARDIS, and that was only because Rose wanted to hop in the loo to fix her face. John dropped off their dinner in the room that was a combo of kitchen and den, then took her shopping to Rose's room. After, he had a need to check the console for some reason.

Stepping into the console room, the door shut by itself and the lights dimmed to almost nothing. He put his face in his hands and quietly let himself break down, leaning on one of the coral support beams.

John felt small arms wrap around his waist, and he opened his eyes to see the young girl's avatar staring up at him with tears in her eyes. "I don't know what to do," he whispered to her. "I cocked everything up."

"It'll be okay," she said softly. "We'll fix this. I promise." She let him pick her up, and held him while he cried. Her pilot was falling apart, and it was ripping her to pieces.

Rose came into the den and absently turned the wall on. With every package available to mankind and beyond, there was always something to watch. She sat on the couch and grabbed her wrapper of chips, letting the cacophony of ten different channels just drone everything out.

By the time she was halfway through her pork, John came in and plopped beside her. He looked to the wall screen and noticed that she was not watching some Stoan political documentary. He gathered up his bangers and munched without being able to taste anything.

They were like that for a while, just nibbling and not watching telly. After a bit, they both started talking at the same time. "Look." They chuckled at themselves, and John waved her on. "John, I'm sorry. This whole afternoon has me spinnin' like a top."

"No, I'm sorry," John countered. "There's a John shaped hole in the wall, where I plowed through with my stupidity. I shouldn't have asked you that while you were so off kilter. That was really dumb of me, and I apologize."

Rose shook her head. "It's okay. Just... everything came crashing down around me when I saw her. Nothing made sense anymore."

John patted her denim covered knee. "Sorry. I'm an idiot."

"Do you think she's all right?" Rose asked. She didn't really want children. Not with how jeopardy friendly their lives were, anyway.

John shook his head. "I don't know. I'm hoping, but I just don't know. She remembered the zeppelins in the sky, and was freaked out that they weren't there. I think... I think she could be a living paradox."

Rose looked at him for the first time since he sat down. "What do you mean?"

"If she remembers the other universe, then that means she grew up there," he explained. "Since we're here now, then that past of hers has been retroactively deleted. Either her memories are going to change, or she'll simply never have existed in the first place."

His tone of voice sounded so defeated, and it almost got Rose in tears again. _'He wants kids!'_ she realized. _'He never told me.'_ Not knowing how to take that, she stared at the takeout bags on the coffee table, thinking. "We need to see him," she said abruptly, looking back at him again. "I need to see him," she clarified.

Dreading what she meant, he looked at her and locked eyes. "Who?" he asked in a whisper.

Rose swallowed nervously, and answered just as quietly. "The Doctor."

John's eyes closed involuntarily, and he felt his world shatter again. He just sat there and said nothing, with eyes closed and face completely blank.

Rose was worried now. Normally, this would start a row. But now? _'Say something! Scream, shout, anything!'_ This simple _nothing_ that John was doing completely unnerved her.

Seemingly interminable minutes later, John opened his eyes. "Okay." He stood up and headed to the door, and Rose just stared at him in shock. _'Nothing? Oh my god, I've broken him!'_

John was nearly to the door when Rose shouted, "Wait!" She jumped off the couch and ran over to him. Standing in front of him, Rose wrapped her arms around his torso. "It's not like that. We don't have to do this now. I just want to tell him goodbye." _'What was that? Am I trying to convince him or myself?'_ she thought.

John's mask was gone now, and his look of complete depression alarmed her. "No love. This has been between us since the bay. It's tearing you apart and it's _killing_ me. I've been so scared, but we should have done this weeks ago. Back when we found ourselves here. Best to get it over with, yeah?"

Rose was shocked into silence. When he took her hand, she simply followed him out and down the corridor. When they were in front of the console, he turned and took her other hand. "He was right though. You _did_ make me better."

"Don't say that," her eyes went wide. "Don't talk about us in the past tense. We're just... I just need to tell him we're here, and... I have to tell him goodbye. It doesn't... I don't feel right without him knowing is all."

John sighed. "Yeah." He let go of her hands and walked around the console, flipping switches and turning dials completely devoid of his usual manic bluster.

Seeing him like this was breaking her heart. When he came back around to the main keyboard, a DVORAK one they both absconded from the other Torchwood, she wrapped her arms around him from behind while he typed.

Without any emotion at all, John said, "Off we go then," in a complete monotone. Rose's face cracked at the sound of it, and did her level best not to cry. She absolutely hated herself now.


	4. Hello

**Carpe Tempus**  
_Chapter Four_

**A/N:**_ Rather long, but that's a good thing._  
_Let me know what you all think of this._

_

* * *

_

The Doctor was whistling 'Luck Be a Lady' to himself as he wandered around the console. It had taken him several weeks to come up with something distracting enough to let him slip away from Rory and Amy. He quietly congratulated himself again in finding that pleasure planet that was nothing more than a lot of carnival rides and such. He made sure that nothing was going to happen on the planet before he made his discreet exit.

He had to admit, those blue boringers made things so much easier in navigating. Coming to a stop at the main keyboard, he pulled the monitor around and looked up to check his destination again. "Friday, the 16th of July, 2010, Gulf of Mexico, Flo-reee-da, Earth." he clicked his tongue and shook his head. How many times was he going to have to pick up after the Forge? It was a bit ridiculous really.

The TARDIS spun about suddenly, and the cloister bell chimed once. "Whoa! No need for that! What was that all about?" The room shuddered again, and he looked at the boringers again to make sure they were on. He saw that they were, just before he was knocked on his coccyx from the room going tospy-turvy again.

"AhhhhhAH! That's why I don't use those things River!" he shouted to the empty room. "You get complacent, and anything will knock you on your arse!"

He stood up and angrily slapped them off, causing the room to rumble. "That's better," he mumbled as he rubbed his bum. "Now what the _hell _was that?" He flexed his neck to pop it and straightened his bow tie while reading the monitor.

The Doctor's head reared back. "That almost looks like a TARDIS. Near collision, maybe?" He glanced at the extrapolator shield controls and patted them. "Thanks for that," he said with a smile. "I appreciate it."

* * *

The TARDIS was shaking more uproariously than normal, and all Rose could do was hold on to John from behind for dear life. He had a hand on the console to brace them both, and was babbling a mile a minute. "That's the thing with TARDISes. If they're directly related, you can always set the other as a destination point. Almost like slaving the controls to the other one, but not quite. Resonating the Block-Transfer Time Equations to parental or childe coral, and you can follow the other one like tying a rope around a mate in a dark room." There was a slight pause and then he commented, "Oh, he's on the move."

The TARDIS settled a bit, and Rose found herself holding on to the jump seat. John gave her forehead a peck, then went whizzing about the console. This was more like it, she thought with a slight grin. Seeing him steering the ship through vortex with excited determination was just what she needed to see right now.

"Oh, whoop. Hang on!" The TARDIS spun about and then went in the opposite direction in the vortex. Rose was suddenly up against the console, and she grabbed the bracing with both hands. "Just passed him," John said. "We were going forward in time, but now it looks like he's heading to Earth. No surprise there," he grumbled.

An annoying buzzer sounded off, (no cloister bell existed yet) and John whipped around to the monitor. "No!" he shrieked several octaves above his normal speaking voice. "Not inside her! That'll cause an inverted gravity bubble!" His fingers flew over the keyboard. "It'll hurt her as well as you!" The TARDIS jingled. "Yes, us too! Now stop that! Hold off till she lands, then park next to her, alright?"

The TARDIS hummed, and then the flight seemed to level out a bit. John blew out a breath and looked at Rose, grinning ear to ear. "That was close."

She was so glad to see an honest smile out of him that she smiled right back. "What happened?"

"Very nearly landed inside the Doctor's TARDIS, and that's bad... _very_ bad. If a TARDIS lands inside another one, you exit one and find yourself in the other. Exit that one, and you're back in the one you started. One big, near infinite loop of insanity." He tilted his head, "Not to mention the chance of explosions."

Rose's heart sped up. They were so close! _'God, I don't know what to think anymore!'_ Here was a man who professed his undying love for her, right next to her. He even proposed marriage! And then there was the man she pledged herself to never leave, almost from when he grabbed her hand and said 'run'. She was so mixed up, you could tell her that outer space was white and she'd believe you.

* * *

"Right then! Off I go," the Doctor said as he exited the TARDIS. He gave the place a once over, and saw that he was inside the observation deck of the base. "Good! Right where I'm supposed to be," he turned and patted the side of the TARDIS. "Well done old girl!" He felt her thrum a happy hum in his head and smiled.

He stepped over to the main 'window' and his smile vanished completely. Not a hundred feet away was a large black plume of crude oil, billowing straight up. "I wondered what was causing that," he muttered. "Cheeky buggers. Using the disaster to hide their experiments? That's just _wrong_."

He was angry now. Scores of underwater wildlife were dying every day because of that oil spill, and these people were using it as a smoke screen? He crossed his arms and started tapping his foot in annoyance. "Well, that stops here," he declared.

A familiar sound caught his attention. Eyes wide, he turned around to stare at the general vicinity of his TARDIS. Next to it, a shape was fading into existence. "No, no, no, No, NO! Stop that! Don't you dare!" Defying his order, another TARDIS thunked into existence.

His head tilted to the side and a grin came out despite his mood. This new TARDIS was flipping through several shells. When it stopped, a stifled snort came out of his mouth. "A pipe organ?"

* * *

The room stopped shaking with a resounding thud. "Right, we're here," John said. Looking to the monitor, he tried to figure out where and when they were. "Gulf of Mexico, off the coast of Florida," he said, then paused. "No... _Under_ the coast of Florida? What?" He tapped a few keys. "Hmph. Looks like an underwater base of some sort."

Rose snorted. "Him and his secret bases."

"Yeah," John said with a half chuckle that he didn't really feel. Something on the monitor blinked, and he stared at it for a few seconds. "Riiiiight." He was completely disturbed now. Fetching his jacket, he searched out the pockets for a few things. Psychic Paper? Check. Sonic Blaster? Check. He fiddled about in several pockets before locating the third item, a pair of '3D' spectacles. Well, they weren't really, but who cared what they looked like?

Rose wasn't really listening to him at this point. She nabbed her blue bomber jacket off the hook on one of the coral supports and went through her own checklist of badge, pistol, and mace. Zipping up, she felt out the pistol in the custom holster that her dad had put in her jacket, and made sure it wasn't all that noticeable. She was excited now.

They met at the door and Rose beamed a thousand watt smile at him. They hugged as he said. "No matter what happens today, I love you. Remember that."

Rose felt him kiss the top of her head. "Love you too, swee'hear'." Her stomach was doing flip flops, and she didn't notice the lack of smile on his face. She did notice those daft glasses he put on before bending to step out of the small door though, and got worried.

John popped out of the back of the organ and looked around. "Blimey, would you look at all that?" He turned and helped Rose through the rather tiny door, who came out with a 'Doctor?' They then heard a thundering voice from their left.

"No!" The Doctor shouted at them. "Get out of here! Both of you!" He was beyond stunned at their appearance, and felt a strange depressive anger worming its way through him. "You," he waved a finger at John. "Clone-Boy, Stuff her back in that caboose of yours and fly for your lives!"

Rose spotted the Doctor and put her hands on her hips. "Well, how's that for a hello?" _'He's regenerated again. Damn!' _she thought to herself. _'Well, at least I won't get them mixed up anymore.'_ She bit her lip and walked towards him.

"No, no, no! Rose? Get back! Dimensions collapsing and world boomage! Get out of here!" She didn't stop until she was directly in front of him. "Are you even _listening_ to me?"

"Nope," Rose said with a smile, just before she hugged him. "All that talk about collapsing... _definitely_ the Doctor," she said quietly. She inhaled the scent of books, time, and... _tweed_? A frown went over her face briefly. _'Too tall, now. We don't fit anymore. Oh who cares?'_

John looked at their TARDIS. "A pipe organ? Really? That's what you wanted to put on?" He tapped high-c and frowned. "Oh well. We'll work on that later."

The Doctor sighed. "Rose Tyler. Completely bonkers," he said and returned the hug with a half smile. "Hello there." Instantly, he felt a stab of hate and looked up to see John glaring at him, before turning away. _'Oh dear. I felt that. Which means... Oh, this is going to be all sorts of difficult, isn't it?'_ he thought to himself, feeling fingernails digging into his palms... which was clearly his other self clenching his fists way too tight. _'Tread carefully, Doctor.'_

"You can talk, you crazy alien," Rose looked up at him, half smiling, half glaring. Dropping her voice to a hiss, she demanded answers. "Four years of hopping all over creation; aborting a divergent timeline; saving your life... _again_; and for what? Getting dumped on that godforsaken beach again? The hell were you thinking?"

The Doctor frowned. _'This is going to be all sorts of rubbish, I just know it.' _Ignoring her for the moment, he pulled out of the hug and took her hand to walk towards his other self. "Would you mind telling me what the hell you were thinking, bringing her here?" The popping glare that got from both of them nearly made his head spin. "Don't look at me like that. I know you know what a Forge base looks like. Don't deny it."

John took his 3D-specs off and looked around. "Riiight." Looking back at Rose and the Doctor, he saw their clasped hands and fought the urge to explode. He locked eyes with her briefly, his inadvertently revealing how hurt he felt, then turned away to go look out the window.

Rose felt immediate guilt at the look John gave her. She didn't want him anywhere _near_ this conversation, but the Doctor was being his usual stubborn, thick headed self. She did let go of the Doctor's rather large hand though. It wasn't much, but it was something at least... apology-wise that is. Besides, it wasn't like they fit together anymore. She was starting to get depressed.

John looked through the window and frowned, realizing what was happening. "Oh that's just _wrong,_" he unintentionally repeated the Doctor's statement from earlier.

Rose came up beside him. "Is that? That's the oil spill!" She suddenly felt sick to her stomach and turned to the Doctor. "Are these people causing this?"

The Doctor nodded. "I think so. Not why I'm here though. That dimensional cannon of yours popped up, and these people scavenged it."

They both turned to stare at him with wide eyes. John said 'No way', while Rose balked at the same time with an 'Oh _shit_!'

"Language," the Doctor frowned. "And yeah, take a guess as to who did it?"

John shook his head and said, "He's dead," denying what he was thinking. Running his hands through his hair, though, he grunted angrily. "Oh _hell_. How many times do we have get rid of that man?"

Rose looked between them. "Who?"

"Nimrod," they said together. John's face twisted up in a snit, and he silently bobbed his head with mental swearing. He didn't notice the Doctor wincing, but Rose did. _'They can hear each other?'_ she thought, looking between the two of them again.

The Doctor's nostrils flared in an inhale, and he looked around to the entrance of the observation deck. "Oh dear, too late now. C'mon you two." He pulled them both by their shoulders over towards a venting grate.

John tried smelling what the Doctor did, but came up with nothing. "What is it?"

Sonic out, the Doctor opened the grating. "It's green," Rose commented.

"Yeah," the Doctor said with a frown. "The other one blew up. Inside now." He helped Rose in first, then John followed her with a muttering 'bollocks'. He slipped in after them and closed the grate. Motioning them back a bit, he then wrapped his hands around each of their mouths.

John immediately pulled his mouth free with a scowl at him, and held a finger to his lips. Rose on the other hand, looked like she wanted to slap the back of the Doctor's head. _'I know how to be quiet, you prat! How long was I running with you anyway?'_ She struggled with his hand for a couple of seconds before the sounds of clanking footfalls finally became noticeable to her ears.

When the people that those rather loud feet belonged to finally became visible, Rose inhaled sharply. Their grotesque appearance reminded her of something straight out of Star Trek's 'First Contact'. John just mentally swore again, causing another flinch out of the Doctor.

It was one thing to have to listen to swearing in all sorts of languages, but John was busy doing it in his native - _and quite literal_ - language of Gallifrey. It gave the Doctor a slight headache from the intensity. _'Stop that!'_ he thought, and John's head snapped around to look at him. _'Sorry,'_ he thought back. Voices drew the trio's attention back out the vent.

"Yes, tell the director we've found his TARDIS as well as another one," a female sounding voice could be heard.

_'Sounds like she's half electronic with that voice,' _Rose thought. Leaning closer to the Doctor, she tried to get a better look at the current bad guy. Well, if you could call it a woman anyway. Her skin was a greenish grey, and nothing about her looked normal. Either she was wearing a suit of armor or it was grafted to her body, and Rose wasn't quite sure which.

"No need. I'm here," another voice said. This one was definitely male, but still with that odd electronic reverb. Rose felt both men tense beside her, and she chanced a glance. John looked like he wanted to hit something, but the Doctor had a simple frown on his face. She took a moment to study his new face. _'Not bad. A bit stretched though. Liked the other hair better,'_ she thought, _'but what's with the bow tie?'_

"Report," Nimrod said. His sensors were focused on the time machines.

His second gave a brief nod. "It's just as you predicted, sir. However, it would appear that he brought someone with him," she said, indicating the rather absurd pipe organ.

"Is it a TARDIS?" he asked, and she nodded. He sniffed the air. "Tweed, leather, and a blond. A Doctor, a smaller Doctor, and a female companion. Interesting. Don't know why he called in backup, but that's just more technology for us." Stepping over to the pipe organ, he slapped his right hand on the side of it. It squealed as the needle like probes burrowed into the shell. "Yes, a TARDIS. And a _young_ one at that. Look at all those lovely hormones."

Rose and John tried to explode into motion from hearing their girl scream in their heads, but the Doctor grabbed John's shoulder and held on to Rose's head. Glaring at the man, Rose tried to rip the Doctor's hand from her mouth. She didn't stop trying until John turned around.

It looked like the two men were having a mental argument with each other. Neither of them backed down until they heard Nimrod ordering their ships to be taken away. Rose noticed that John was putting his other sonic back in his pocket, and then realized she had her hand on the butt of her pistol. She didn't like that, but they hurt her baby! That thought sparked another one, and her eyes grew round. _'I'm already a mother and didn't realize!' She_ glared out the grate and swore to herself that man was going to pay for hurting their girl.

The Doctor pulled the two back and they started crawling through the ventilation in silence. John's mental daggers were getting on his nerves, but he couldn't really say anything about it. He was too busy trying to find a place to regroup and plan. Besides, he was throwing his own at his other self, and to bicker about that would be hypocritical.

They came on to a four way crossing, and the Doctor looked up. _'Hmm, five way crossing.'_ The shaft leading up had a fan in it. Grinning to himself, he fished his sonic out and started the fan's motor up. With the gentle whirring of the fan, it was safe to whisper. "Right, that was unpleasant. Now, we need to find that cannon and shut it down, otherwise the whole region will be sucked into the void. Katrina? Hah."

"How did they even get a hold of that thing?" Rose asked in a hush. Last she knew, it was locked up in the other Torchwood's vault.

The Doctor shook his head. "I'm not sure, but I picked it up on the scanner four weeks ago." He watched them look at each other. "Yeah, that might be related," he nodded.

"Is the cannon what caused it?" John asked.

The Doctor shook his head. "No. It was caught up in the dimensional snap, along with everything else. And that's a story for another time. But, did you see Nimrod? Looks like he's had more than a few upgrades since last time, and his fashion sense is still terrible."

John glared at him. "Fa-? _Fashion_ sense? That bastard stabbed our baby, and all you can think of is what he's wearing?" he hissed at him. "What happened to you? Regeneration, TARDIS shell got a face lift, and the sonic blew up. Did your common sense go with it?"

John didn't notice, but Rose was giving the Doctor a near identical look. She was just keeping quiet because she knew that the angrier she got, the more irate John would get. She wanted to cut that vicious circle off before it started, so she simply tried to get the Doctor's new hair to catch fire with a single glance. _'Idiot.' _Then there was the simple truth that if she got started, then the entire base would know where they were. Yeah. Quiet's better now.

"That's a discussion for another time," the Doctor said. He blinked. "Hold up." Closing his eyes, it looked like he was going into a fit. Instead, he was mentally going over the last ten minutes until he got to what his subconscious was trying to tell him.

"What's that?" The Doctor reached over to John and made for the pocket that he kept the big sonic in. "No guns. Give it here. What were you thinking?"

John backed up and batted the Doctor's hand away. "No second chances, remember that? Well, this time it's aimed at me." He motioned around his face. "No do overs, now spack off. It's not like I'm going to shoot anyone willy nilly. It _does _have a stun setting you know."

They glared at each other for a minute, then the Doctor wagged his finger at him. "I'll deal with you later. C'mon, let's find that thing." He turned and led them down the left shaft. "Next thing you'll tell me, Rose is carrying a badge with a gun."

Rose paused briefly to glance at John with wide eyes, and pursed her lips in embarrassment. If she didn't know any better, the Doctor had smelled the gun oil. She kept her mouth shut though, while John gave her a look of sympathy. They then crawled after the Doctor in relative silence._ 'Have I really changed that much?' _she thought.


	5. Appearances, Arguments and Sneaky People

**Carpe Tempus**  
_Chapter Five_

**A/N:** _Didn't think I was going to leave Phea alone, did you?

* * *

_

Jack was hunched over his computer, going over various reports. New York, Perth, and Tokyo were finally online, and it was status quo for the space station. But, his main problems now were Moscow, St. Petersburg, Shànghǎi, Belo Horizonte, Buenos Aires, Chicago, and Los Angeles. His life was getting far too complicated now, and he was grateful that he hardly needed sleep anymore. He just hated the paperwork.

There was a knock on his door and he looked up to see Owen. Well, his counterpart at any rate. This one was a bit nerdier than the one they lost twice, but he was still a brilliant doctor. "I don't mean to bother you Captain Harkness..."

"How many times to I have to tell you? It's Jack," he complained.

Owen nodded. "Sorry sir, but would you mind telling me why there's a BMW in the morgue? It just appeared not five minutes ago."

Jack's eyebrows shot up. "And the alarm didn't go off?"

Owen shook his head. "Miss Sato is looking into that now."

Jack was still getting used to a more respectful Owen Harper, and he stood up to check his holster. "Anyone down there?"

"Mrs. Cooper-Williams is waiting for us," he said, pulling a pistol out of the holster at his back. "She said the young lady is out cold."

They came into the morgue to see Gwen cradling a young woman on the floor. The BMW was impossibly parked next to the leftmost wall of freezer doors, with its door wide open. Gwen glanced up at them and had a look of astonishment on her face. "She was awake for a second. Called me 'Auntie Gwen', and told me to get 'Uncle Jack' before she passed out again. What the hell is going on?"

Jack's face was screwed up in confusion. She was pretty, but he'd definitely remember seeing this girl before. The 'Uncle Jack' label had him on alert though. Kneeling down next to them, he put a hand on the car for balance. His head snapped to it, and his hand jerked off of it like it was on fire. "A TARDIS?"

Gwen looked at the automobile. "_The_ TARDIS? I thought it was a police box?"

"Isn't that the Doctor's ship?" Owen asked, having read the files.

Jack shook his head. "No, this one sounds too young, not to mention male. Owen, gimme your stethoscope." When he had it in hand, he put it in his ears and checked the girl's chest, twice. "She's a Time Lord?" Looking up to their doctor, he said, "Under no circumstances are you to give this woman any form of Aspirin, understand? She's highly allergic."

"Is she a threat?" Owen asked.

Jack put his hand on the car again and listened. "Doesn't sound like it. He's confused but it like he's asking us to help her, whoever she is."

Phea groaned and opened her eyes. "Uncle Jack?"

Jack leaned down. "Yep, that's me. Who're you though?"

Phea's look of pain was lightened by a smile. "That has to be the first time you haven't flirted when saying hello."

Owen was confused, but Gwen lightly snorted a giggle. "Well, she knows you at least."

Jack gave her a look of consternation, and then looked back down. "You got me at a disadvantage."

Phea reached up and squeezed her forehead with her left hand. "Oh my head. If you don't know me, then it's the wrong year again. Shit. Phea. Pasephea Tyler."

Jack and Gwen's eyes both got big. "Tyler?" Jack asked. "As in _Rose_ Tyler?"

Phea nodded, then winced from the motion. "That's mum. Ohhh, my mind is being torn apart!" she wailed, and tears spilled out as she was fighting the urge to cry. "All my fault. It's all my fault!"

* * *

The Doctor had his sonic out, and was smacking it. "Why won't you work?" he hissed. He'd been trying to scan for the cannon, but it was proving to be difficult.

"Why are you even trying to look for it like that? If the fog machine is on, you can't find the thing for all the fog," Rose whispered.

John pulled his sonic out. "Let me. Bigger isn't always better, you know." He donned his 3D specs again, and looked around, following different traces.

"It isn't going to work," the Doctor sing songed.

Rose was wishing for an airlock to chuck them both out of, they were annoying her so much. It was like they were reinforcing all of their bad habits, and their bickering was on her last nerve. Fed up with the pair of them, she turned down what looked like a dead end and looked down the grating. She arched an eyebrow and smirked.

Turning around, she followed the sounds of sonics. "Boys," she whispered.

John was frowning at the Doctor who just said, "Told you."

A hissing "_Children_!" got their attention. Turning to see Rose's annoyed face, she thumbed back where she came from and turned around. They could hear her muttering, and followed.

When they got to the grate, Rose got out of the way so John could peek down. "Brilliant," he whispered. Frowning, he lifted and lowered his specs a few times. "Blimey, that thing's almost black from it. No wonder we couldn't find it." Rose rolled her eyes at that.

John backed up so the Doctor could take a look. He saw a single technician playing with a dial on the side of the cannon, and then walked away. Looking all around, the room it was in had to be large, because he couldn't get the proper angle to see any walls. He looked up and thumbed them back the way they came.

Following the Doctor, they came to a grate that he'd found not ten minutes ago. Gripping it with his left hand, he soniced the edges until it came loose. He twisted it around and pulled it up inside the vent. Sticking his head down for a look, he went over the hole and turned around. "You first, Rose."

The boys held on to a hand each and let her down into the storage room. Then the Doctor looked up and took John's shoulder. "Stop worrying about me," he whispered. "I'm not going to take her from you. She's yours, so there's no sense in spiking me in the head anymore."

Rose's head snapped up when she heard that, and narrowed her eyes. They were talking about her like she was some kind of commodity!

"Oh like this is all about _you_." John hissed. "This entire trip was for _her_, you arrogant sod! She wanted to come, so we came. She may love me, but she only has eyes for you, and I'll give her up if it'll make her happy. It'll definitely kill me, but nothing else matters if she isn't happy. You got that?"

Rose couldn't believe what she was hearing. On the one hand she was flattered, but on the other she felt like a sack of chips being passed around. "I can hear everything you're saying," she hissed. Still though, it was nice hearing John say that last bit.

They looked down slightly shocked, then back at each other. "Now you did it," they said together. John mentally swore again just to see him flinch, and then called him a 'Prat', just before he hopped down.

Rose wanted to slam herself in her room for a good brooding, but there were things to do. She noticed some lab coats on the wall, and snatched one up. Well, at least they'll look like they belong for a while. She tossed one at John while the Doctor hopped down.

Once they were both in the room, Rose lit into them both. "Look. I'm not some thing to be passed about like a pint of bitter. I'm my own woman, and I make my own decisions. You two trying to decide where I'm going to be and who I'm going to be with stops right now. Understand me bow tie?" she poked the center of his chest to emphasize her point.

John was grinning at the dressing down the Doctor was getting, but then her angry glare came in his direction, and it fell into a scolded schoolboy expression.

"As for you," she paused, face softening. "None of this is your fault, but I... I just need time." Her brow furrowed into a hurt look when John just stared at his feet. _'What the hell am I doing?'_

The Doctor looked at John. "Well now. That certainly put us in our place, didn't it?"

John replied with, "You know, for someone whose brain is bigger on the inside, you really are thick. When two people tell you the same thing, you might want to pay attention because there's a good chance it's true."

The Doctor glared at him, then turned to step through a plastic partition. It was John's turn to flinch now. Ironically enough, it was an English epithet that involved fornication and leaving the area.

Rose's mouth hung open. _'What the? What did he? He doesn't care!'_ she thought, completely stunned. She looked at John and caught his look of sympathy, then closed her mouth with a sharp clapping of teeth.

John came to a sudden realization at this point. _'Good Lord, I finally understand Mickey the Saint. I owe him a pint. Maybe we can be buddies and bad mouth the Doctor in a pub on Saturdays with Pete?' _He tried not to chuckle when the thought of tossing darts at a picture of the man's face came to mind. _'That's not funny,'_ he heard in his head. _'You started it,'_ he replied with a smirk. _'Stay back there, I'm busy getting identification for us,'_ he heard.

Rose put her hand on John's arm. "What is it?"

"He's not alone out there." At Rose's widening eyes, he quickly continued. "He's all right, just busy pilfering. Should be back..."

The Doctor came in before he finished his sentence. "Apparently, they use the outer room as a makeshift smoking habitat." He waved his hand in front of his face. "I tell you, tobacco is just foul." John's head tilted back and forth in agreement.

The Doctor held up three I.D. badges, and pulled out his sonic. Whizzing it over them one at a time, he handed one to each of them. "Bob McCrimmon?" John asked. "Nice sonic forgery there. Love what you did with the picture, although I think you missed the brown eyes there a bit."

"Liz Shaw," Rose read. She looked at a picture of herself on the thing with a raised eyebrow. "Okay. Colour me impressed, but you're still not off the hook yet, mister." She wagged her finger at the Doctor, but he just shrugged at her.

"Best hope there isn't a fingerprint or retinal scan anywhere, or this is for naught," John said.

"All right, all right, listen up you two. Locate our ships while I find a way into that lab." He turned to go, but was pulled back around by Rose. He instantly put a finger to her mouth. "Listen! We don't have time for _this_ rubbish. There's no telling how long we've got before that thing overloads. So if you _don't_ mind," he forcibly pulled her hand from his shoulder and ducked out.

Rose crossed her arms and scowled at his retreating form. She was gonna kill'im. Maybe then his rudeness would go away. She simply couldn't understand what was wrong with him. Where were the hugs and smiles?

John pulled her out of her brooding. "Sorry. He's acting like a combination of his first three selves, a grumpy clown with a flair for dramatics I guess. Either he's fine with this, or he's throwing up defences over the whole thing. No idea which it is, but good lord he's making me crazy."

"Definitely more rude," Rose agreed as they stepped out through the smoking bit and into the hall. "And you don't need to apologize for him," she said, taking his hand with a squeeze. She dropped it a second later when another technician came around the corner. Holding her head up like she owned the place, they passed the woman without a second glance.

"Do you know where you're going?" she asked him a minute later.

John nodded. "Following directions," he said, stealing a glance at her. "You should be hearing something like it as well. Just focus inward a bit and you should notice it."

Rose stopped her internal grumblings over everything and tried to do what he said. After they turned a corner she started to understand what he was talking about. The sounds of their TARDIS was slowly becoming noticeable. It was a bit different from hearing the jingling with her ears, but she heard it quite plainly. Looking at John, she gave him a wide smile.

"That's it," John grinned back. "Brilliant, isn't it?"

Rose nodded. "That's fantastic!"

They came to a door, and John fished his sonic out. It opened with a click, and they slipped inside. "Ohhhh kayyy," John said with more than a little worry in his voice.

Rose turned from the door and gaped in shock. Both TARDIS had wires hooked up to them, and she could hear both of them mewling. _'I'm gonna burn this place to the ground!' _She was completely infuriated at their treatment of the sentient ships, so the fact that burning something that was underwater didn't quite register as absurd to her just yet.


	6. Loops and Pails

**Carpe Tempus**  
_Chapter Six_

**A/N: **_Nothing much to say here. Review if it strikes you though!_**  


* * *

**

After they got their 'intruder' into the infirmary, the girl had passed out again. This time it was from some lovely green liquid that Dr. Harper supplied, since she was complaining of a rather large headache. Fortunately, they had pharmaceuticals that had nothing to do with acetylsalicylic acid or its derivatives.

Once she was settled into their new infirmary, Jack called Martha up for some additional insight. While he knew that time-lines were involved and that he knew more about that than she did, he really needed another perspective on the whole thing. Not to mention the whole Tyler clan. Ostensibly, he considered calling Pete. However, Martha advised against that.

It was another twenty minutes before she arrived. With a quick wave to Gwen, she was in Jack's office and sipping what passed for coffee in this place. While Ianto had somewhat recovered, his mind was still scrambled from whatever caused the universe to 'hiccup'. Since no one knew how to operate that confoundingly ancient machine of his, instant coffee was the call nowadays... even though it royally sucked.

"So she called you 'Uncle'? If her last name wasn't Tyler, I'd assume that she was another relative of yours," Martha said. She took a sip of the coffee and grimaced.

Jack pursed his lips. "Not funny and yeah. That and she called Gwen 'Auntie'. The whole thing is weird. Sorry about the coffee." He swirled his own around in his mug. "I mean, I know she's from our future, but I can't figure out why her head's killing her."

"Harper didn't find out anything?" she asked. She'd been calling all the duplicates that she'd personally knew by their last names. It was a self defensive move, sure, but she really wasn't ready to make friends with people who weren't 'her' friends just yet.

Jack shook his head. "Nothing. She said her mind was being torn apart, though."

Martha glanced up at him. "Her mind. Not her brain? Could this be anything like what's happening to Ianto?"

Jack shook his head. "His deal was all focused on that crazy virus, but you just gave me an idea." He stood up. "Come with me."

Martha and Jack came into the morgue. Martha's eyebrows went up when she saw the BMW. "How did that get in here?"

"He's a TARDIS," Jack explained as he walked up to him. Placing a hand on the bonnet, he spoke up. "Would you mind too terribly if we were to come inside? We won't do anything, but I know it'll be easier to talk to us from the inside."

Martha's eyes became round when the driver door opened on its own, followed by the driver's seat tilting back. Underneath, they could see a ladder leading down. She shook her head at him when he offered her to go first, though. "This is your idea."

Smirking, Jack stepped on a rung and clambered down. Martha wasn't that far behind him. Once they were inside, they looked over the console room and marveled at how similar it was to the Doctor's. The only difference was that the coral was tinted more towards the red end of the colour wheel, as opposed to the beige like orange. The sounds were deeper as well. "Hello?" Jack said.

A sparking blue hologram appeared to reveal what looked to be a teenage boy, dressed in some form of business suit. "Captain Harkness; Martha Jones; Welcome."

Martha was shell shocked. "Can the Doctor's TARDIS do this?" she asked Jack, who nodded and patted her shoulder.

"What can you tell us about Pasephea?" Jack asked. "We want to help her, but we're completely out of our depth here."

The avatar froze momentarily, and then started up again. "I do not know. Technically, I am unconscious. This part of my intelligence was set aside to interact with you, and to make this call." His holographic arm went to the side, and a light shone on something on the console. The hologram then vanished.

Jack stepped forward and saw that it was an old fashioned rotary phone. It startled them both when it started ringing. Picking up the receiver, Jack was about to say 'hello' when he heard the buzzing of the line trying to connect. A familiar voice answered. 'Hello?'

"It's Jack."

'Harkness? That's not possible.'

"Why not?"

'Because I'm staring at you.'

"Ah. Well, it's two thousand and ten for me."

He heard his own voice laughing on the other end of the line, and then either the Doctor or John came back. "Okay, I get it now. This is John Tyler by the way. I assume you're calling about my daughter?"

Martha was standing next to Jack so she could hear the whole conversation, and they looked at each other with raised eyebrows. "Yeah. Assuming you know what this is about already. Mind letting us in on it?"

'Well, it's like this. Phea was an adult when she was caught up in the dimensional snap. Since Rose and I were brought over before she was born, Phea's entire past was altered. She's currently undergoing a rather painful retrograde memory reset. There's not much you _can_ do, except be there for her. Let her babble. She will...'

Jack interrupted him. "Don't you want to be here? I mean, she's your daughter."

'Technically speaking, I'm already there,' John said. 'I remember being there for her, so to come now would be extremely bad.'

"Got it," Jack said.

'Don't call us though. We're currently busy in your time frame. If you do, then the paradox would be astronomical,' he explained with a bit of alarm in his voice. 'Let us call you after we're done, alright?'

"Okay?"

'Just be there for my girl, and No Flirting!'

"As if!"

'I _mean_ it! I don't care if the you I'm looking at is giving me his best impression of disgust. I know you, so hands off!'

Martha failed to suppress a snicker, and Jack gave her a frown. "Look, this is your kid, and I'm not about to go there. I know what you'd do to me, not to mention Rose. Besides, I'm her uncle, right?"

'Good man. Now we must be off. Monitor her temperature, and record any physical changes that may or may not occur.'

"Don't worry, John." Martha said. "I'm right on top of it."

'Thanks, Martha.'

"Don't mention it."

* * *

The Doctor had located a mop and pail, and was doing his impression of a janitor, cleaning the floor on his way to what he assumed was the main lab. Strikingly enough, the base was laid out almost identically to the one he'd been in previously so long ago.

When he was at the main door, he held up his absconded I.D. badge. When it failed to open the door, he fished his sonic screwdriver out and gave it a buzz. He pocketed it quickly when the door opened and tried not to smile.

Once he was through, he started cleaning the floor while covertly giving the place a look over. Almost in the direct center of the room, stood the cannon on a raised platform. Various wires were attached to it, which led to a single console. There were three technicians in the room, and what looked to be a couple more in the main control room that was sectioned off with clear plexi-plate glass.

Making the circuit around the room with the mop, he noticed various sensors in the walls, cameras in the corners, and more than a few fire sensors. There were two main entrances to the place, and both doors looked to have fireproof hatches that would slam shut in the event of fire. The whole place was a combination of stark white and grey metal. Overall, just the kind of lab that he expected.

Things were going rather well, until he got a bit too close to the console that the cannon was attached to. He was beset with what he assumed to be the lady in charge of this section, and he thought she was rather pretty. "Identification please? This is a restricted section."

"Restricted? How else am I going to get in here if I didn't have authorization?" He held out the I.D. badge and prattled on. "Far be it from me to be where I'm not wanted, but how else is this place going to get clean, eh? I mean, I'm a janitor. S'not like I know whatever it is you're doing."

She read the badge. "John Smith, Janitorial Staff."

He leaned over to look at it with her. "Yeah, bad hair day that, sorry." She looked at him, and he smiled innocently. It fell when she brought out a device and scanned the badge with it. "What? Am I not supposed to be in here, then? How else is the floor supposed to get clean?"

She gave him a dry look. "This is a cleanroom, and you aren't wearing your coveralls. Do you know the amount of dust you're tracking in?"

The Doctor's mouth opened, then shut with a snapping of teeth. "I didn't think of that. Sorry. I'll go get changed then." He turned to leave but was held up by another technician, who just stared at him and shook his head.

"Let me see your authorization please," the lady repeated.

Sighing, the Doctor turned around and fished out his psychic paper, picturing the level one access privileges the Forge used at the other base. He held it up to her. "There, see? All better, then?"

She arched her eyebrow. "That's blank, Mr. Smith."

"Ah."


	7. Dilemmas and Bad Guys

**Carpe Tempus**  
_Chapter Seven

* * *

_

**A/N:** _Sorry for the wait on this. I'm juggling two stories at once now... quite literally. I have them both open right now, and I'm dancing between them. Silly really, but the muses are all over the place. Thankfully, I'm completely done with moving and have somewhat recovered from that. Threw my shoulder out, and it's been a real pain for over a week now. Anyway, on with the show!_

* * *

John and Rose were busy with disconnecting the wires and leads that were attached to the sentient ships. Working as a coordinated pair, John fed the signal loops back in on themselves with his sonic in order to avoid some alarming issues, and then Rose would remove them with hers. He'd made her one nearly a year ago because he thought it high time she had one. It wasn't all that advanced, but it didn't need to be as it was mostly for doors and the like.

After he got the Doctor's ship free from all the wires, John kneeled next to their ship and noticed the indentation of a hand print on the side. "Oooh, that looks like it smarts love. Don't worry, we're here." He patted the side of the ship and started going over the leads.

He heard a jingling inquiry that didn't make a lot of sense. "What's that?" Their ship repeated the phrase and sent him a mental picture of the vortex. "No, love. We're not quite done here yet. We have to stop the bad man that hurt you, and disable the device that's causing all of the void particles," he explained with a frown. "I'm sorry." Their girl sent him waves of understanding, but the undercurrent of fear was readily apparent to him. It caused him to swear in a mutter. "Fuck."

"What's wrong?" Rose asked him, looking up from the other side of the organ.

John looked her in the eye. "She's scared."

A look of concern went over Rose's face, and she knelt back down to literally hug the side of the pipe organ. "Honey, we're going to leave... just not right now. This Nimrod bloke is Trouble with a capital T, and we have to disable the cannon before most of Florida gets pulled into the void."

Rose was surprised when their ship seized her mind and flooded it with a huge amount of love and compassion. She felt the undercurrent of apprehension and fear as well, and blinked away some tears that were threatening her. "Oh swee'hear', I love you too. It'll be all right," she reassured her and involuntarily squeezed the shell of their TARDIS tighter.

They worked to remove the final leads in relative silence, both concerned and pissed off in general. Rose's attention was split between worrying over the two TARDIS, as well as sneaking looks in John's direction. His bum, in particular, whenever he'd bend down to remove a lead. Her loyalty between the two men was ripping her in half, and the thought of choosing between them was going to drive her round the bend, she just knew it. Her thoughts were punctuated by two words sent out to whatever deity favored her. '_Help me._'

She didn't really expect an answer, and was completely surprised when she got one. Images of herself with both men from her memories played out. First it was her pining over the Doctor in both of his previous forms, then it was her cuddling with John and laughing over something silly on the telly. Then she heard her own voice in her head. '_I am the Bad Wolf. I create myself._' Her eyes grew round, and the lead she had a hold of dropped to the floor. She looked to the police box in shock, and it was fortunate that John wasn't looking in her direction.

It felt like the elder TARDIS was smiling at her, and she chanced a half grin in her direction. _'Thanks_,' she thought to her.

John popped off the last lead and started chuckling to himself. Rose glanced at him with a questioning look, and he grinned cheekily. "I've got an idea." He patted the side of the police box. "Get her open."

Smiling wide, Rose fetched the chain around her neck out from under her lavender blouse. Holding on to the original key, she fitted it into the lock and smirked. "And you said I should throw it out," she teased. She pushed the door in, and froze not two steps inside.

"Blimey, looks like he redecorated _everything_," John commented from behind her.

Rose was beside herself from the appearance of the console room. Stepping out of the way, she whispered "What did he _do_?" It was like the Doctor erased everything there was about their time together, and it simply broke her heart. She felt the old girl rub her mind with understanding and comfort, and she held herself in a hug trying not to cry.

John noticed her discomfort, and squeezed her shoulder briefly. Sticking a finger in his mouth for a second, he held it up and turned slowly around while Rose wandered further in. "Don't worry old girl, we need something to fix Nimrod. Be just a mo'," he said to the ship. His finger jutted out towards a corner of the room, "That way," and followed it.

Rose walked up to the console and ran her hand along the edge as she circled it. Stopping, she tested one of the panels. It was decorated with different looking controls now, but when she pressed it in, it popped back somewhat loose. She bit her lip, remembering the tow chain that forced it open. Her fingers felt the vibrating hum that lie beneath it, and was sorely tempted to simply open it up and fix everything that was wrong with her life. A mental frown and a disapproving hum from the ship stopped her though.

A tear dribbled out finally, and Rose furiously wiped it away. '_It's not fair!_' she thought, and then she felt the old girl give her reassurance... as well as a mental shove. It spun her both away from the panel and toward the man that was bent down in the corner.

"They're still here!" John said in a voice much too high. Rose half ran down the stairs and towards him. Looking over his shoulder, she saw that he had a floor panel open. He turned and handed Rose one of the fire extinguishers from that ruddy ship where the Doctor met Reinette.

Biting her lip with a smile, she took it from him and flipped it about. "I love these things!" Which of course, she did. Hated the entire situation surrounding them, but loved what these things did.

John stood up with the other one and kicked the panel closed. "Right, then. Let's see if these will freeze a vampire!" His face was rather manic with the thought.

"Vampire?" Rose asked, suddenly alarmed.

John blanched. "Oh, right. We didn't tell you. Nimrod is a bonafide vampire. He uses cybernetics to somewhat control his urges for blood, but he's a fangtastic bastard!"

A barking laugh came out of Rose's mouth. "I can't believe you just said that!" Then she grinned. "Seen ghosts, a werewolf, and now a vampire?"

John giggled. "Yeah. Now all we need to do is visit ancient Egypt and the classics will be completely covered," he grinned cheekily.

Rose whapped his shoulder with a smirk, then followed him out of the TARDIS. She gave the inside of the door a fond caress and gave the TARDIS a mental goodbye.

The pair of them retraced their steps to the storage cupboard and ran into a couple of technicians that were smoking in the front area: A raven headed woman and a blond man in lab coats, identical to the ones they had on.

The woman spied the extinguisher over John's shoulder and asked. "What's that?"

John looked at it and said, "What, this? No idea. There's a theory running about that it has something to do with cryonics, but we can't get them to work. Basically, we're chucking them." He paused to cough and waved his hand in front of his face. "D'you mind not burning the place down? Blimey that's foul!"

The male stood up to protest, but was cut off by a klaxon blaring. The lights along the walls changed to flashing red, and John turned to the pair and shouted. "Right! No arguing! To your stations!"

The woman put her fag in a pop can and the man dropped his to stamp it out with his foot, before they ran off. John looked at Rose. "That didn't take too long," he said with a manic grin.

"Tell me about it," Rose said. "He's not exactly subtle this time round."

"Too right," John said as they went through the plastic partition to the back room. "He's 'bout as subtle as an anvil dropping on your head." He tossed his 'ice gun', as Mickey once called them, up into the ventilation shaft, and then did the same with Rose's. Holding his hands together, he gave her a leg up. He inwardly groaned as he spied her denim clad posterior wriggling about, as she clambered through the vent access. _'Focus, dumbo,'_ he chastised himself as he jumped up after her.

* * *

The door that the Doctor didn't come in through opened, and Nimrod came in with a leer. "Thank you for saving us the trouble of finding you, Doctor."

The Doctor crossed his arms and smiled. "Hello again, tin pot. How's the family? Wife and kids doing well, I trust?"

Nimrod scowled and shoved the Doctor into a chair. "Now that you're here, you'll do us the honor of making the cannon work properly."

The Doctor chortled. "I most certainly will not. Do you have any idea of the danger you're playing at with that daft thing?"

"The risk is worth the reward, Doctor," Nimrod said with a smile. "Can you imagine the technology that one could acquire from parallel dimensions?"

The Doctor tilted his head and sighed. "Can you imagine being dropped into a void so black as to make that mechanical heart of yours look brilliantly and angelically white? The void is nothing to play with. There's a reason the Eternals called it The Howling. Every soul that gets dropped in there eventually goes mad from the absence of everything and ends up screaming for eternity."

"That could very well be you, Doctor," Nimrod sneered. "And it will be, unless you find a way to get that machine under control."

The Doctor looked bored. "And if I refuse?"

Nimrod's hand shot out and caught the Doctor by the throat. He tried not to wince from the feeling of needles pricking his skin. Scowling, Nimrod began to gloat. "Maybe we can find out how many new faces you can have. I've seen the next one, and it's less than charitable. However, that one has a more agreeable sense of self preservation and sense of style. How about we meet him? I'm sure we can find a leather jacket for him to wear."

The Doctor couldn't laugh at the mecha-vampire's misconceptions about his incarnations, and switched to his respiratory bypass as he felt his windpipe slowly being crushed. The pain was nearly intolerable, and his eyes squeezed shut involuntarily. He tried to speak, but Nimrod's hand locked up his voice box. All he could get out was a couple of grunts.


	8. It Hit the Fan

Carpe Tempus  
_Chapter Eight_

* * *

_**A/N:** Balancing acts between stories... muses going round and round... My mind is a tornado of stuff going on. Sometimes I wonder if this is what the Doctor goes through. At any rate, the TSC AU will be completed._

_Updated the opening sequence if anyone's interested._

_youtube[dot]com[slash]watch?v=80H5w1rdU6I_

* * *

John and Rose were crawling in the duct-work of the base somewhat quietly. It wasn't that they were making noise, it was that they were a bit withdrawn. It was a strange mix of being anxious and contemplative at the same time. The only reason John was being quiet, was that his inner fixation was on how to get the canon, the Doctor, and them out of this situation. His outer focus was on Rose's denim clad derrière. Give him a break. He's half human, she's bloody hot, and nearly his entire attention span was spent on how to make her life better.

As for Rose, her quiet was spent spinning round and round over the two men she was in love with. One rescued her from a life of inadequacy, taught her how to rise above herself, and gave her the fortitude to do what's right no matter the situation. The other was just a copy of that, wasn't he? Sure, he's better at interpreting her mood, knows all the little things, and can call her out even better than the original ever did...

She was going to go insane, she just knew it.

They were nearly to the vent opening where they found the canon when John started grunting in what could only be described as pain. Rose turned to look behind her to see his face twisted up and holding his throat. "John? What is it? What's wrong?"

Looking at her concerned face, John choked out, "He's in trouble. Don't worry about me, keep going," he rasped. _'We're almost there. Hang on!'_ he thought to the Doctor. _'This bloody hurts!'_ he heard back.

Turning back around, Rose crossed the last few feet to the grating and looked down. What she saw filled her with rage.

* * *

The Doctor forced his eyes open and caught a glimpse of blue and brown through the vent. Eyes watering, he looked at Nimrod and grunted something unintelligible.

Grinning maliciously, Nimrod leaned closer. "What was that? I didn't quite hear you." Feeling magnanimous, he relaxed his grip enough for the Doctor to speak. When the Doctor grinned, he frowned.

"Gotcha," the Doctor whispered, smiling like a little kid.

There was a loud bang, and a ventilation grating clattered to the ground. Spinning about, Nimrod looked up to see the smaller Doctor and the blond pointing some sort of rifles at him.

John shouted 'Oi!' at the same time Rose yelled 'Not My Doctor!' and fired twin blasts of sub zero liquid propellants. Nimrod never finished his call to the guards before his mechanical parts were frozen in place. He could only watch as John jumped down into a roll, only to come up and blast him again in the face. Then he saw nothing but the white of ice.

John caught Rose as she came down, then the pair of them froze four other mechanical vampires that were closing in. The only human in the entourage was clocked in the head with the back end of Rose's extinguisher.

Once everything was somewhat settled, John came over and helped the Doctor get Nimrod's hand out from around his throat. The Doctor took in a huge influx of air, then coughed loudly.

"You alright?" John asked him. He tilted the Doctor's head back to examine a rather ugly red hand print that covered the majority of his throat.

"I'm fine," the Doctor coughed, waving John off. "Stop worrying about me and lock this place down." He then had to wave Rose off, because she started fussing with it as well. "No no. You can help me with the canon. Blimey, for the lack of a glass of water," he lamented.

Turning about, John saw the control centre off in a corner blocked off behind some reinforced plexiplate glass. Running around behind it, he saw a technician about to hit a big red threatening button, then clocked him upside the head with the extinguisher. "Ooh, sorry," he apologized with a grimace. Seeing two other technicians, he scowled. "Spack this." Shifting the extinguisher to his left arm, he dug the sonic blaster out of his jacket pocket and stunned them both.

Rose helped the Doctor stand. "What do we need to do? Shut it down and pack it up?"

Rubbing his throat and shaking his head, the Doctor turned to look at the control panel that the canon was wired to. "Not about to put that thing on board my ship. We need to force a controlled implosion. When it goes, it'll take the entire base with it with a big shloop of a void snack. Disconnect it while I set it to go."

Taking one look at the canon, Rose frowned. "Boy, they really mangled it. Got everything turned about. No wonder they couldn't get it to work." Shaking her head, she started yanking the wires that lead to the canon from the control board. No sense in inadvertently pissing the canon off by pulling from that end.

"Got it!" John yelled out just before the fire alarm sounded. Both doors clanged as fire doors slammed down.

Rose spun with a huge grin on her face. "That's my man!" _My man?_ She blanched. _Well he is, isn't he? He did get you that absolutely gorgeous ring, didn't he?_ She was so preoccupied at what she said, that she didn't notice the Doctor grin to himself over it.

A female computer voice sounded out, '_Emergency. Emergency. Fire in Lab Alpha. Station Compromised. Please Proceed to the Nearest Exit._' The voice then continued in a loop.

Whipping his sonic out, the Doctor set about some rather ingenious sabotage. Folding signals backwards, he reversed the polarity of the void particle flow and set the coil chamber to overload. "Right then! We've got approximately nine to twelve minutes before this thing goes."

John ran up to them. "Where the hell is Nimrod?"

The Doctor and Rose turned around to find a slushy trail leading to an open hatch in the floor. Uncharacteristically, the Doctor muttered, "Bollocks." Looking to John and Rose, he pointed to the door. "Get back to our ships. I'll handle this."

John watched him jump down the hatch, then turned to Rose. "He can't do this by himself. Nimrod's too strong. Get in our girl and prep for takeoff." He then grabbed the back of her neck and pulled her in for a kiss. "I love you."

Rose then watched John follow the Doctor down the hole in the floor and threw her arms in the air. "How long have I been running with you two anyway?" Running after him she muttered, "Like I'm about to let you two get into trouble by yourselves."


	9. Bones of Realization

Carpe Tempus  
_Chapter Nine_

* * *

_**A/N:** Too many things going on in my life right now. Was told recently that my father died a while back, and I was the LAST TO KNOW._

* * *

A hatch opened from above into a pressurized underwater launching bay. Stepping down the ladder cautiously, the Doctor spied a small submersible that couldn't have fit more than two people at the most. Remembering that Nimrod had spatial camouflage akin to a shimmer, he took his sonic out from his jacket and began scanning the area. It blipped with a higher pitched whir while he was aiming it at the lower level. Placing it sideways in his mouth, he slid down another ladder with his hands and feet on the outside of it.

Landing with a pop on the metal grating, he flicked his sonic out with a ping of noise. "Give it up Nimrod," he called out. "The base is about to find itself up to it's neck in the Howling." His ears flicked when he heard a squeak of metal from above. A quick glance at the water showed John's reflection in the upper section. _'Oi, I said get out of here!'_ he thought to him rather angrily.

_'Bite me,'_ John thought back, equally incensed. _'He's on your four o'clock, crouching, and looking to jump out at you... Duck!'_

Throwing himself into a roll, the Doctor felt something tear at his jacket. A clang on his far left, not to mention a rather hefty swear, and he knew exactly where the cyber-vampire was. Pointing his sonic, he deactivated Nimrod's cloak with a micro pop of a converter overloading itself in his chest plate. He heard John skid down the other ladder on his far left.

Nimrod scowled as he rippled into visibility. "Too many times, Doctor. Never again!" he shouted, before charging forward.

Dodging him with a pivoting pirouette, the Doctor crooned. "Olé!" That only infuriated Nimrod, who impacted into the railing – denting it. He spun around with a howl and a backhand.

Coming down the ladder into the upper level of the bay, Rose gasped when she saw the Doctor getting clocked. He was spun about and flipped over the side of the railing. Before she could shout, one the the slack chains that held up the submersible went taut.

"Is that the best you can do?" the Doctor shouted from his dangling position, wincing at the protests the socket of his shoulder was shouting at him. "This place is coming down around our ears; I'm trying to get all of us out of here including you! And _you're_ too busy with a vendetta? How the mighty have fallen!" he mocked.

Having his head snapped around, the feeling of falling vertigo, a bite into his left hand, and a pissed off shoulder, John growled. '_Oh no you don't. The only one who knocks his head in is ME!'_ Whipping off his void specs, he held up the extinguisher like a club, and sprinted forward to bash the back of Nimrod's head in, _completely_ pissed off.

_'John! He's still got that daft crossbow!'_ the Doctor shouted in his head.

Having heard the rapid footfalls, Nimrod turned and aimed the weapon at him. John changed the angle of his swing and smacked it out of the vampire's hand. Nimrod snarled and countered by punching the extinguisher out of John's.

"You know what I like about you?" John said, landing a Venusian nerve strike in the gap between Nimrod's gauntlet and armoured sleeve, nailing the bundle of nerves at the elbow. "You're so damned predictable!" He spun out of the way as Nimrod swung, and planted his heel on the side of the vampire's knee with a crunch.

Infuriated that this imposter had the audacity to strike him, Nimrod railed. "You cannot defeat the Director!"

_'Cordilite injector,'_ John mused telepathically to the Doctor as he broke it with an elbow. _'Plexor field modulator,'_ he ticked off in his head, breaking it with a knuckle punch that he'd feel later. _'Family Jewels,'_ he Noble Drop-kicked, disappointingly deflected by a very well made cod piece. He ducked another awkward swing. _'And now, his beak!'_

John landed a right cross on Nimrod's nose, shattering it with a squirt of greenish yellow blood. However, he was a little slow in pulling his fist back. Nimrod finally caught on to the combination of Venusian Aikido and kick-boxing that John was using, _thank you Donna_, and was able to grab John's forearm with his mechanically enhanced gauntlet.

"Petulant worm," Nimrod growled, twisting John's arm up and out to the side. Closing his fist, he grinned wickedly when the bones snapped.

The Doctor grunted and nearly fell into the water, as he felt the unholy agony ripping through John's arm.

Watching from above, Rose's heart stopped when John wailed a blood curdling scream. There was a deafening roar in her ears, and the world around her seemed to slow, not unlike being in a traffic accident. Looking down to her feet, she saw an unravelled coil of a fire hose. Not caring if it was a result of John's fire trick earlier, she flashed back to when she knocked that plastic dummy off the Doctor so many years ago.

Looking up from his forced squat, John saw that crossbow materialize in Nimrod's other hand in a blue white flash of a miniature transmat. Watching it being pointed at his chest, he thought to the Doctor. _'Take care of her! She deserves nothing but the best you can give her!'_ and closed his eyes against the inevitable.

The chain that the Doctor was hanging from had spiked points that bit into his hands, but he didn't care about the pain as he finally got back at eye level with the lower deck again. His eyes widened at seeing the coming coup de grâce, "No," then saw a blur of blue and yellow swinging down from the upper level.

The heels of her feet impacting very satisfyingly on Nimrod's larynx, Rose spun off her makeshift rope, completely out of her mind. "First, you hurt my ship!" she landed a punch on the previously broken nose. "Then you hurt my Doctor!" she left knuckle punched the vampire's throat. "Now you've made one _hell_ of a mistake, and hurt my _boyfriend_!" she shrieked. Her fist impacted Nimrod's gut, and she hissed in pain as she felt nearly all of the bones of her hand fracture against cloth covered armoured plating.

Hand whipping out, Nimrod grabbed Rose by the throat and lifted her off the metal floor. "You're companions are always feisty, Doctor!" Rose kicked him repeatedly as her air was going out, and he shook her. "Oh stop that!"

On the floor, John shouted "No!" and grabbed Nimrod's ankle with his left hand. The vampire's other foot impacted his solar plexus, driving all the air out of his lungs.


	10. Confrontational Explosions

_**Carpe Tempus**__**  
**__Chapter Ten_

* * *

_**A/N:** Since I know this plot back to front, I'll try to bang more of it out. Head's too swimmy to try to do Shattered right now, and I don't want to make a lame attempt at it... not fair to all of you._

* * *

Sitting behind his relatively new desk, Jack was mixing up a cup of instant coffee when he heard Martha shouting from the infirmary. He stuck his head out of his office just in time to see Owen being shoved out the door, which then slammed in his face. "The hell did you do to her?" he asked.

Owen took off his glasses and looked at Jack with an expression of confused shock on his face. "I have no idea. All I suggested was to get some blood samples. Maybe if we knew the lady's biochemistry, we could come up with some sort of solution." He paused, staring at Jack. "What is it?"

Frowning, Jack came over and patted the man's shoulder. "Don't worry about it. This is extremely personal for the both of us. That young lady is the daughter of one of our closest friends." He looked through the window in the door to see Martha fretting over a chart. "We don't want to treat this as some sort of experiment or anything."

"Torchwood procedures..." Owen started.

"Don't have a thing to do with this!" Jack shouted. "You're in a different universe, Owen. That 'if it's alien, it's ours' kind of trash thinking died over here." He pointed through the small window. "That woman is both the daughter and niece of three of this planet's most important people! Torchwood is the _last_ line of defence. She, along with her parents and uncle are on the front lines!" He leaned down to get nose to nose with the man. "Do you understand me? Her grandfather runs Torchwood 24!"

Blanching, Owen swallowed. "Peter Tyler? The former Torchwood director from… home?"

"The very same," Jack said. "And, you can't talk to him about this, because she hasn't been born yet. If you in any way screw up the time stream, I'll make it my personal mission to make your life a living hell. Get me?"

Jack was unable to enjoy the rather fearful nod that Owen gave him, because Martha started shouting for him. "Stay here," he said through his teeth, then went through the door. "Martha? What is it?"

Gaping at Pasephea, Martha looked up at Jack with wide eyes. "Tell me you're seeing this," she demanded.

Next to her now, Jack looked down and noticed something odd. Pasephea's dark brown hair was beginning to streak blond in long strands. What was really interesting, or disturbing, was that the blond strands were longer than the brown by about five or six inches. "Yeah," he breathed. "I see it."

Phea groaned and shifted in the bed, drawing their attention down. Her entire body seemed to be vibrating, and she whispered out "Daddy..." before sitting bolt upright with a yell. "MUM!"

* * *

John was going insane. He could see Rose's feet dangling over the deck plating and plainly heard her choking. Nimrod's kick to the gut had frozen his diaphragm, and he was beginning to see the effects of higher blood pressure in his eyes, as false lights started to dance in his vision. He made an attempt to grab his sonic blaster, but had forgotten that his arm was broken. Shifting to his elbow with a wince, he tried again off handed. It was extremely difficult since it was in the inside chest pocket on the same side of his jacket.

Climbing over the railing, the Doctor stood up straight and pulled his sonic out with a flick to extend it. "Let. Her. Go." he growled. "Your ire's with me, not them."

Turning, Nimrod smiled maliciously and unceremoniously dropped Rose onto the deck in a crumpled heap. Watching the Doctor step to the left, he did the same. This kept them at the same distance from each other as they edged clockwise around the floor.

As soon as she was down, John reached over and felt for the pulse at her wrist. He would've sighed in relief upon feeling it, but he was still unable to breathe. Rose was barely conscious, but she noticed a tingling sensation at her wrist and knew it was him.

"What is it going to take, hmm?" the Doctor asked, holding his sonic out vertically in front of him. "What will it take for you to stop this nonsense? There are so many other things that you could do, all of which would bring humanity higher… instead, you seem to want for nothing except power, just for the sake of it. Why is that, hmm? Is it that vampric blood that's goading you? You can only do so much with technology to stem it, you know, but the hunger is still there. Did you simply transfer your lust for blood into the desire for power?"

"You will never understand my goals," Nimrod grumbled. He attempted to activate the power cells in his arm to electrify it and send a bolt to fry the Doctor, but ended up shocking himself instead.

The Doctor grinned. "Careful there. Think my brother dented your controls a bit." He tilted his head and kept edging to the left in a slow wide circle. Doing so had him halfway to Rose and John's side, not to mention where he needed Nimrod to be. "You can explain it to me. Doesn't hurt to try, does it? I mean, if it's something I can help you with, I'd do it in a heartsbeat." _'Just a few more steps,'_ he thought.

Nimrod was glowering at him. "You cannot understand. But, I do thank you for enabling the implosion. The resulting shockwave will empower us for centuries."

The Doctor actually laughed at that. "Are you serious? Void particles are the only thing that don't follow the normal flow of physics. Matter to energy and back again simply is not possible with void stuff. It's the ultimate in dark matter. Scientists from my home planet tried for aeons and they couldn't solve it without a lot of explosions, and you think you can?"

Tilting his head, Nimrod sneered. "You would actually help the forge willingly?"

Finally in front of Rose and John, the Doctor smiled. "Nah, you're right. I lied. This. Ends. Here." Tilting his hand down, he pointed his sonic at the dead centre of Nimrod's chest.

"Always the same blatant arrogance, Doctor," Nimrod grumbled. "But even still, you would never kill in cold blood."

The Doctor nearly flinched when he heard John angrily think, _'Fifteen more seconds and he wont have to.'_ Without looking away from Nimrod, the Doctor's peripheral vision noticed that John was digging for his blaster.

"One last thing…" the Doctor said cryptically.

Servos reconnected in his arm, and Nimrod placated the Doctor while he powered it up. "And what's that, Doctor?"

The Doctor moved his arm up so that he was aiming at a steam pipe over Nimrod's head. "Gotcha." Sonic whirring, the pipe burst at the seam and hit Nimrod full in the face. A bolt of electricity arced harmlessly towards the upper level, as Nimrod howled and tried to block his face. Stumbling backwards, he pitched over the railing he bent earlier and fell into the water below.

Just then, the entire base shook just before the sound of a small explosion echoed. "Time's up," John gasped. "Gotta… go." He was finally able to inhale, and he relished the sweet taste of air. "Carry her. We can make it if we hurry."

Rose looked up to see the Doctor kneeling in front of her, and heard the theme from the Indiana Jones films in her heard. Unable to laugh, a slight smirk flitted over her face. All he needed was Short Round, a fedora, and a bull whip.

"I've got a better idea," the Doctor said, as he reached and pulled Rose's necklace up to expose her keys. "Sorry, ladies." Flipping his sonic over, he hit them both with a very odd frequency to John's ears.

When the keys glowed, both TARDIS made a shlooping thunk as they materialized in the centre of the deck. John looked up and let out a giddy laugh. _'You have got to teach me that!'_ he thought, just before he heard both of them protest angrily. _'Orrrr, not.'_

Eyes rolling about in her head, Rose saw the police box and pipe organ, then felt herself being lifted. "No. John first…" she protested weakly. Then, losing sight of him as she was half carried into the original TARDIS, she started to panic. "No. Put me down. I can stand just fine. Go get him." Her order might have held more weight were it above a hoarse whisper. As it was though, when the hands under her arms let go, she fell flat on her bum. _'Oh great. There'll be no living with him now,'_ she thought with a sigh, just before slipping onto her back. Her head rolled to the side just in time to see John crawl in, kicking the door closed with his red trainers. _'Safe… We made it,'_ she thought with the barest curve upwards at the corner of her mouth. Finally able to relax, she closed her eyes and let herself drift.

_'John! I need your base code!'_ the Doctor shouted in his head.

Forcing himself upright, John wheezed. _'Exactly yours, in reverse. Easier to remember.'_

Feeling that she was being lifted again, from the front this time, she didn't notice the noise of the TARDIS engines starting up. All of her bleary focus was on wanting to slap the Doctor. "Doctor, put me down. John needs help, he…" She opened her eyes and saw a brown leather jacket instead of a bow tie. "John? What the hell are you doing!" she hissed, becoming hysterical. "Your arm's broken! You could have a punctured lung! Put me down! Why won't either of you listen to me?"

* * *

On the ocean surface, a rather large ship that was disguised as an oil tanker exploded in a huge fireball. The surface of the water dipped down nearly a hundred feet, before bouncing back up. Instead of creating a tidal wave, the water shimmered and crackled with some form of energy. No one would know what kind of phenomenon that was, unless they knew eleven dimensional physics.


	11. Restructuring and Alien Medicine

CARPE TEMPUS  
_Chapter 11_

* * *

Martha and Jack grabbed Phea to steady her when she shot up with a yell. "What's wrong?" Jack asked her. Holding on to her hand, he snaked his other arm around behind her to help hold her up. Martha was doing much the same on the other side of the bed. Standing up from the corner of the room, Gwen came over and took Martha's place.

Hands shooting to her temples, Phea groaned low. Her voice started to rise in volume, and ended up shrieking with wails of pain, kicking her feet every which way. Jack and Gwen tried to keep her from hurting herself, and held on as she thrashed about. Martha was almost to her drip bag with another dose of sedatives, when Phea mercifully fainted.

Jack and Gwen stared at each other with wide eyes, then laid her back down on the bed. "Oh sweetie, what's happening to you?" Gwen said, wiping away some tears from the girl's face.

"John said her past has been completely undone, by whatever it was that pulled everyone from that universe over here," Martha said.

Nodding, Jack wiped the other side of Phea's face. "Her parents were pulled over here before she was born. Still don't know what it was, but it had to have been damned powerful to yank her TARDIS over here from the future. Hand me a flannel, would you?"

Pulling one from a small box, Martha ran it through cold water in the sink before handing it to Jack. "Her hair's still getting lighter… and longer," she commented.

"Pardon?" Gwen asked, somewhat confused.

Glancing up from cleaning the girl's face, Jack had a theory. "What do you see when you look at her? Describe her. Hair, face, clothes, everything."

Brow knit in confusion, she looked her over. "Blond hair, a bit wavy; Some freckles there; Maroon leather jacket over a pale orange blouse; light blue denim trousers; and green plimsolls. Looks to be almost out of school. Could be something like sixteen to eighteen years old. Why?"

Baulking at the contradictory description, Martha looked over at Jack. "Could it be from when we travelled with him?"

"Has to be," Jack said, "not to mention my previous job as a Time Agent."

"What's going on?" Gwen prodded.

Jack pointed at the girl. "She's streaking blond from a dark brunette, and looks to be getting a bit younger. She has on a black denim jacket, pink tee shirt, dark bluejeans, and flats. You're seeing the final result. Was she blond when she fell out of the car?" Gwen nodded at that, but Jack shook his head. "No, she wasn't."

* * *

Navigating solely by instinct, John was carrying Rose one armed and somewhat upright through the corridors to the infirmary. He heard the TARDIS shuffle some rooms about, and the door to his immediate left opened on its own. Turning into the infirmary, Rose finally noticed that he was carrying her and started a fit over it. "Rose, stop. Stop talking! Your larynx is bruised and possibly fractured!"

"I don't care!" she choked out. "You could be bleeding in your chest for all we know!" she hissed, before going into a coughing fit. Blinking through some tears, she felt something behind her as he laid her down on a bio bed. Glancing down, she saw that his forearm was bent unnaturally and fretted with worry. How he carried her with only one good arm, she couldn't even fathom.

Bending over her, John brushed Rose's hair out of her face and cupped her cheek. "Sweetheart, please. The arm is nothing, and he kicked me just above my navel. If you don't calm down and your larynx is actually broken, it could swell shut, and you'll suff…"

Listening to him rabbit on about how she was more important than he was, Rose came to some conclusions rather rapidly. While the Doctor was hurt, that didn't seem all that important next to John's pain. His scream still echoed in her mind, and she had reacted without thinking. If she was completely honest with herself, she'd lost it and went on a rampage. Seeing him look at her with such concern and fear over her, reminded her of something else: It'd been far too long since she'd kissed him, and actually thought there would never be another chance when she heard that horrid howling he made.

Unable to stand it any longer, she grabbed the collar of his jacket with her left hand and silenced his running gob with hers. It was desperate and life affirming all at once. _He_ was alive. _She_ was alive. And damn it, she'd had _enough_ of being torn in half! Once her lip lock was in place, her hand snaked around the back of his head and kept it there, while her tongue ran rampant.

Breaking the kiss solely to breathe, she whimpered hoarsely. "I thought I'd _lost_ you!" Rose's good arm wrapped around his neck and held him to her in a fierce hug, their necks and chins matching together oh so beautifully.

For his part, John was more than a little stunned. While the kiss was more than nice, it was completely unexpected. And, the intensity of it broke all of their previous attempts, even surpassing their very first on the beach a bit over a year ago. His voice was shaky when she clamped on around his neck and shoulder. "Oh _God_… when he had you in the air… I was… I was… gonna kill'em," he confessed. "If my arm hadn't been snapped I would've…"

Pulling out of their more than awkward hug, Rose looked up and saw tears dribbling down his face. "Shh," she kissed him again a few times, reaffirming that they were both more or less all right. Gripping the back of his neck again, she pulled him down and whispered in his ear, "Yes."

"Yes what?" he asked, confused. Well, with the way his head was at the moment, anything would've confused him up to and including gravity.

She pulled back and looked him in the eye. "Yes," she said a bit louder, even though her throat was protesting.

Blinking, he still didn't get it. "Yes?"

The corner of her mouth curled up, and she nodded. "Yes."

The light dawned, and John began to hope. "Noooo… Really?"

"Yes, really," Rose said again, back at a whisper.

John's head shook slightly. "You mean yes to the question that got us started on this whiplash roller coaster ride? _That_ question?"

Haltingly giggling, Rose nodded more emphatically. "Yes, to _that_ question. I'll marry you, Johnathon Donald Smith." At that declaration, she could swear that she could read by the light of the smile he was radiating, it was so big.

"Brilliant!" he squeaked. Forgetting his own situation, John tried wrapping both arms around her for a hug. When his right hand bumped her shoulder though, his smile morphed into a wince, and he bounced backwards when dagger like pain seared upwards towards his shoulder. "Ow! Ow ow ow ow ow!"

Wincing and hissing in sympathy, Rose tried to steady him. However, he spun around in a circle in a wild dance of pain.

"Ooooooh, that didn't half hurt!" he groaned, then perked up. "But who cares! Brilliant!" A chortling snicker fit of giggles erupted, and he spun about again, enraptured.

Eyebrows skyward, Rose couldn't think of another time she'd seen him like this in any form. And, she'd seen him all sorts of jazzed before. Unable to help but grin, she beamed at the sight of him.

Stopping his spin abruptly, John bent down, "God, I love you!" and kissed her hard.

Leaning against the door frame, just outside the infirmary, the Doctor smiled to himself while rubbing his right forearm. Normally, he wouldn't intrude on anyone's private moment. But this was Rose, however. And, even though it still hurt a bit, he knew this was the best thing for both of them. All the same, he couldn't help himself. Sticking his head in, he saw the pair of them snogging worse than Amy and Rory could ever think of doing. Grinning wide, he spoke up. "Everything all right, then?"

"Gah!" John shouted, spinning to face the door. Rose flushed as she realized that they were on the Doctor's TARDIS instead of their own.

Chuckling, the Doctor stepped into the room. "Sorry, couldn't help myself there. Be just a second. Need to get my hands sorted, then I can focus on you lot."

Glaring at him for ruining their moment, John was gently pulled back down to the bio bed for another kiss. This one was languid in comparison to the others, and his eyes rolled back with the feeling in his chest. It didn't take a genius to realize that she was kissing him _in front of_ the Doctor, and he was a bit beyond a genius. The ramifications of what that meant completely evaporated his near overwhelming sense of jealousy.

At the far cupboard over the sink, the Doctor pulled a jar down and undid the lid. Sticking his fingers inside, he rubbed some greyish goop over his palms and fingers. When it was fully absorbed, the cuts from the chain closed up and healed over. Then with a look in the mirror over the sink, he applied some more to his throat. He could swear he heard the muscles there sigh with relief.

Grinning, he looked into the jar then glanced at Rose. Brow arched, he brought it over to the bed and nudged John out of the way. "Here, let me get at your throat. Most likely take the rest of this to…" he buzzed his sonic over the area and read the results. "Yes, I do believe I'll be out of this stuff once I'm done. There's three hairline cracks running through your voice box."

Sharing a look with John, Rose was reluctantly apologetic. "Okay, you were right," she croaked. "Just don't lord it over me, yeah?"

Rolling his eyes, John shook his head at the very thought. Then he noticed the jar that the Doctor had, and his eyes slightly bulged. _'Oh you are so kidding me! No way!'_ Getting out of the line of fire, he moved to the head of the bed so that Rose couldn't see him.

Winking at John, he thought to him, _'This should be completely hysterical.'_ Sticking his hand in the jar again, he scooped out the rest of the goop and spread it over the skin of Rose's throat. "Kind of a minty smell there, isn't it?"

John slapped his gob and nose shut with his left hand, in an attempt to stifle the snickers that were threatening.

The mint goop, for lack of a better term, made Rose's throat tingle with warmth. For a brief moment, it was as intense as a hand or foot waking up with the pins and needles, and she winced from it. When it subsided, she looked up at the Doctor. "So, what was that?" she asked with a clear voice. "Never seen you use that stuff before. What's it called?"

Smirking, the Doctor stepped back. "Aside from some herbal plants, the main ingredient is crushed Rutan brains."

A stifled squeak came out of Rose's mouth, and John finally let out a cackle of laughter. Turning her head, she smacked his good shoulder. "You coulda warned me, you wanker!" Hearing both of them snicker and laugh, she was thoroughly annoyed. "Shut up!"

"Oh, c'mon Rose, you still look gorgeous," John tried placating. Pulling a mirror out of his pocket, he held it up for her to see.

Feeling around her throat, she couldn't find a trace of that… mint goop. "Like I care what I look like now! I just had brains spread all over me like jam!"

The Doctor came back over with something blue in his hand. "Oh, settle down Rose. You've had worse. Now hold still, while I tend your hand."

Biting down her retort, she recognized the snap brace and sat up, holding her hand up like a good patient. Didn't stop her glare though. When the Doctor wrapped the strange cloth around her hand and thumb, it formed itself around and straightened the bones out with a series of little pops. Wincing from the pain of having all of them forced into their proper place again, she didn't relax until it was over. Test tapping the fabric with the finger of her other hand, she still marvelled at how cloth like that could become as hard as an actual fibre plaster of a cast.

"Your turn John," the Doctor said.

Shrugging out of the left of his jacket, John hissed as the right side was being problematic. "Rose, could you give us a hand here, sorry. It's catching it up."

Frowning over his pain, Rose stood and pinched the edge of the sleeve with her bad hand and held the bulk of the jacket with her left. John slipped out of it with a wince, and nodded his thanks. Watching the Doctor place a larger cloth snap brace on the bed, she helped him lay his arm out flat while the Doctor wrapped it.

Wincing with gritted teeth as the snap brace tightened around his arm, the sound of his bones being pulled into place was almost as loud as when they were broken. John swore violently aloud in Gallifreyan. There was a pat on his back as the Doctor apologized.

A hand on each of their shoulders, the Doctor looked regretful. "Thank you, both of you, for helping me today. Thought I could handle this on my own, but turns out I was wrong." He then surprised them by pulling them both into a hug. "Love you both, you know," he said quietly.

"Got a funny way of showin' it, Doctor," Rose half complained.

John patted his back, grinning. "Oh, you're welcome. Now enough of this narcissistic rubbish," he said, pulling back to look at him. "What the bloody well happened? Everything's changed. You, the TARDIS, the sonic? It's like everything regenerated! And where the hell's Donna? Not like her to leave you to it. Surprised she's not here, slapping you for being a git again."

"Yeah," Rose said. "Her all Doctored up in the head and everything, it's a wonder she let you alone to get yourself killed. That bloke was a bonafide nutter!"

The Doctor flinched almost imperceptibly. "Ah, enough of that. Look at you two! Or, you _three_ as it were! More Tylers to run about and being jeopardy friendly, and all that!"

Rose slapped his arm. "Not funny!" She was still a bit overwhelmed from meeting her daughter.

Cocking his head, John hadn't missed the flinching. _'What's the matter?'_ he thought to him. _'Don't think I didn't notice that. What's wrong? Where's Donna?'_

Seeing them go quiet, Rose looked back and forth between them. "Oi! Out loud if you don't mind! Not all of us can hear you two think!"

Plastering a fake smile on his face, the Doctor evaded. "I've got something to show you, John," he said, pointing to him. "You're going to flip somersaults!" With that, he turned and left the infirmary with a brisk pace.

Staring after him, John's eyes were big. "Something's wrong, but go with it for now. Can you help me with my jacket?"

Wriggling the brown leather over his slender frame, Rose had to ask. "Any idea what it is?"

"Not a clue," he admitted. "Something bad, though." Settling his jacket, he mumbled his thanks before walking arm in arm with Rose out into the corridor.


	12. Snap

CARPE TEMPUS  
_Chapter Twelve_

* * *

In the corridor, John was murmuring quietly to Rose as they walked to the console room, arm around each other. "Got a quick flash of Phea in the old console room. Must've happened before he regenerated, but that was right after we prodded him about Donna. Rose, I'm telling you, something terrible has happened, because his guilt ridden feelings of remorse slammed me like I was slapped."

"She's not dead, is she?" Rose asked, looking up at him with worry. "Tell me he's not by himself again." Oh, that sounded horrible to her, thinking more of the Doctor being alone than Donna dying. "Uh, you know what I mean. She's still around isn't she?"

"I don't know, Rose," John said, shaking his head. "Honestly, I don't."

They both paused as the TARDIS nudged their minds, and blew warm air through their hair. Rose noticed a small panel in the wall open up to reveal a monitor, and pulled John around to look. Snapshot photos of a ginger haired girl, a sandy brown headed bloke with a beak bigger than John's, and a face that John never expected.

"Oh… _my_ God," he whispered. Rose looked up at him and turned his head to face her, a question in her eyes. Looking back to the monitor, John pointed. "That's River Song."

Rose gasped. "You mean that woman in the Library? The one that _died_?"

"The very same," John said quietly. Shaking his head, he tried to smile at her. "She knew my... his name... his _real_ name. That only happens during pair bonding... uhm... wedding." He frowned over his tripping gob, but that really knocked him sideways, seeing her.

Hand over her mouth, Rose looked at the picture. "Oh God, and he knows how she dies. That's _horrible_!" Then it hit her. "He's _married_?" Suddenly, she came to be rather grateful that she made the right decision. _Still though, that Time Lord needs a good slap, _she thought.

More warm air blew over them, and the panel closed. Hugging each other from the side, they continued to the console room. Coming inside, they saw the Doctor in a whirl around the console. The relative smooth ride wasn't unnoticed by either of them, it was so unusual.

The Doctor caught sight of them and grinned wide. "There you are! Head on over to the door, would you? This wont take long, and you're going to absolutely _love_ it!"

Matching pensive looks at him, John and Rose walked past him and down the small stair. The Doctor spun with a whoop, then started explaining. "Year That Never Was, remember how the Master kept going on about his so called plans for a New Gallifrey in the heavens?"

Pausing, John let go of Rose and turned around, taking her hand instead. "Yeah, that bit was odd. Why? You find out what that nutter was talking about?"

"That I did!" the Doctor crooned. "Found a ledger in the attic full of plans, up to and including the coordinates for the entrance to E-Space. I go there, and what do I find?" He jumped down the stair and ran past them to the door, opening them both wide. "This! Don't worry, we're five seconds out of synch with normal space."

When the Doctor stepped to the side, John led Rose to the doors and looked out. Confused at first, his head looked about to all the different stars. "What's going on? They're too close together!"

"Well, you see… " the Doctor started.

Noticing a slightly tumbling pipe organ outside, John interrupted him loudly. "You didn't dock them? You… _Idiot_!" He ran up to the console and typed at the main keyboard, one handed. Stepping to his right, he put his left hand over the telepathic controls and concentrated.

While John was busy, Rose turned to glare at the Doctor. To his credit, the Doctor had a sheepish look on his face. "Sorry, didn't occur to me." Rose rolled her eyes at that and looked back outside.

Their TARDIS stopped its tumble, and came towards them. Sighing with relief, Rose watched it come along side and stuck her head out to see it butt up against the police box. She stifled a giggle when she saw it change. Looking up, she heard their girl jingle happily and rapidly. The Doctor's TARDIS replied, then it was like they were talking back and forth non stop.

* * *

In the TARDIS Matrices, a young girl ran up to throw her arms around a woman. "Mum!"

"Hello, sweetheart! Have they bonded yet?" she asked, knowingly.

The younger snorted. "It's like they're afraid to scare each other off. You should see them. Want to just smack them sometimes."

Chuckling, the elder smiled. "I've got just the thing."

"Oh?" the younger pulled back, as the elder started feeding her Block Transfer Equations. Her eyes went wide. "Ohhhh!" she grinned and started giggling. "Going to need some materials for all that."

* * *

John jumped back down and ran up next to Rose. "What's the matter, she all right?" Poking his head out next to hers, he blinked. "Well now… that's… redundant, if a bit backwards." Their TARDIS had changed shells and mimicked the police box almost perfectly, save for the fact that it was completely reversed. Even the lettering was backwards. "Right. Work on that later," he said.

Coming back inside, he back-slapped the Doctor's shoulder with a scowl. "Never, _ever_, do that again," he stuck a finger up to the Doctor's face. "If she slipped into a separate time track, there's no telling where she would've ended up."

Frowning, the Doctor ran a hand through his hair. "Sorry. Now, back to explanations?" He paused, and waited for John to wave him on. "Right. Well, as you can see, Kasterborous has shrunk significantly. Very nearly materialized into Kaster-B, but I'm getting off topic. The reason they're so close together, is because space itself was being pulled through the entrance to E-Space."

"What the devil could cause that?" John asked, completely confused. Rose just did her best to keep up with what was being said.

"Apparently, and I'm not exactly sure _how_ she did it just yet, but there was a sleeper ship that was stuck into E- Space like a plug in a tub," the Doctor said

"Sleeper ship?" John interrupted him again, stunned. "Are you serious?"

Nodding, the Doctor pointed out the door. "Have a look."

In among the brightness, Rose could make out a small blinking light ripple into existence. Recognizing the older police box of the TARDIS got her to grinning. John got closer to her and put his cast arm around her back, and she reciprocated when they saw the TARDIS pause its flight, like it was towing something that suddenly stopped behind it.

The ripple in space got larger, and a gigantic ship was pulled through it. John immediately recognized the configuration and lost all control over his legs. "Oh. My. _GOD_!" Slipping down, Rose helped him sit on the floor. The Doctor just grinned his face off at the reaction.

"What is it?" she asked him.

Turning his gobsmacked expression to her, he whispered out. "That's a _Gallifreyan_ defence ship." Rose's eyes became round, and she gasped. "He said _sleeper _ship," John commented, before turning to the Doctor. "How many?"

"Thousands," the Doctor said smugly, then smiled wide enough to show some teeth.

John's mouth hung open and began hyperventilating. Concerned, Rose held him from the side and looked out to see that more of the ship was appearing.

"Okay," the Doctor said, looking out. "When the back end of that exits, there's going to be a rather large shockwave. So large, in fact, that it'll reverberate through the dimensional walls."

Rose snapped her head up to look at him. "_That's_ what brought us back?"

"Yep," the Doctor said with a huge grin on his face. "Along with a hell of a lot of other people all over the universe."

"BRILLIANT!" John shouted. Looking up, he had to ask. "Mum?" The Doctor frowned and shook his head sadly. "Damn. Couldn't care less about our father, but… Still though, no more 'Last of the Time Lords' rubbish. Which lot is that?"

Leaning against the door frame, the Doctor crossed his arms. "It's a complete mixture that ran the length of the different Houses. All of them opposed Rassilon's Final Sanction and followed deposed President Romana. Leela's there too. Whoop, hold on." He backed up from the door and crouched.

Looking back out, the three of them saw the tail end of the ship come out of the rift entrance to E-Space. There was a bright flash, and space itself rippled outwards. They could see the stars move rapidly out, and a distortion wave came right at them. When it hit, they were thrown to the floor. The doors closed by themselves, as the two TARDIS were tossed back into the vortex. John was cackling like a madman through his tears.


	13. Explanations and Cruelty

**CARPE TEMPUS**  
_Chapter Thirteen_

* * *

The three of them were laughing like crazy as the TARDIS were both flung through the vortex. The Doctor recovered first, and headed back up to the console. Rose turned on her side and leaned up on her elbow to look down at John's completely ecstatic face. John couldn't even talk, he was so ramped up, and was only able to get out, "They're alive!" in a hissed hush.

Wiping her eyes first, Rose did the same for John and had no idea what to say to that. So instead, she leaned down and gently kissed him. Then she realized that there was only one thing she _could_ say. Moving to his ear, she whispered. "We can go visit them the first chance we get."

Grinning like mad, John kissed her cheek and let her help him off the floor. "Oh, most definitely." Then a thought went through the back of his mind. _But, what if they don't like the fact that I'm a metacrisis?_ Masking himself, he turned and ran up the stairs after Rose. "So, everything snapped from that, right? Question is, was Pete's World the only universe affected? Ooh, and here's a thought. Is it still there, or did it re-merge with this one?"

The Doctor paused, and his head went back slightly. "You know, that thought never occurred to me." He looked at John. "I have no idea."

Alarmed, Rose didn't like that thought at all. "It better still be there. There are some good people, and I hate to think that all we did over there just went up in smoke."

"Right, sorry," John said. "They're still there. Have to be." He started rubbing the back of his neck and gave the Doctor a look. _'Help me.'_

The TARDIS thunked in landing, and the Doctor agreed. "Of _course_ they're still there. Highly doubtful that _that_ amount of timelines would simply terminate. Anyway, we're back on Earth. Once I drop you off, I have a pair of newlyweds to pick up."

"Wait, wait, wait," John said, holding up his hands. "Hold up and full stop. While that was a brilliant use of distraction, and it's completely _wonderful_ that they're still alive, that hasn't erased my original question." John moved around the console and stared slightly up into the Doctor's eyes. "What. Happened. To Donna?" he enunciated.

Frowning slightly, the Doctor fiddled with his fingers and started glancing every which way, then backed up. "Right. A lot happened since I saw you last."

"Oi, space man. Out with it!" John prompted.

"Oh, I swore I wouldn't do this again," the Doctor mumbled, working up his courage. Inhaling, he set his jaw and grabbed John by the zips of his jacket. "Background information!" he shouted, then crashed their heads together.

Rose's mouth dropped open. "What are you doing?" she shouted.

For John, a plethora of images and memories flooded his mind. From the departure of the TARDIS from Bad Wolf Bay and Donna's mental overload, through several other solo adventures, including running into Phea, to a scenario on Mars that made him want to slap him. However, the first thing out of his mouth when the crash of heads was done was "Donna! Ow!"

Gritting his teeth, the Doctor shouted, "Amy and Rory!" then crashed their head together again.

"Stop it!" Rose shouted, coming around the console.

More images flooded John's head. _Late Dr Who? No, Leadworth._ "She seems nice. A bit pushy though in the snogging department," he said lamely, then threw his hands to his head. "Ow! Use your hands!"

"Rassilon!" the Doctor shouted and gave him a third headbutt.

"Doctor!" Rose shouted, right before slapping him, "STOP IT!"

John gasped as Rassilon's escape via the Master went though his head. Then he saw Wilfred. _'Oh Gramps…'_ he thought sadly. "Good God, you're violent!" he shouted, pushing himself away from the Doctor.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Rose shouted in the Doctor's face.

Rubbing his cheek and forehead, the Doctor was wide eyed at Rose. "Blimey, you slap just like your mother!" When she glared and drew back for another go, he held his hands up in defence. "It was the quickest way to let him know what happened!"

Turning round, Rose saw John bent over the railing with a look of shock on his face. She went up to him and rubbed his back. "You all right?"

"No," John said quietly, before rubbing his forehead and wincing from all the new information in his head. It was still a jumble, but he stood up straight and looked over at the Doctor. "What… the… _HELL_… did you do to yourself?"

Frowning, the Doctor turned away and walked over to look at the blank wall display monitor. "You saw. Every one of my friends ended up hurt because of me, or turned into a soldier, or forgot, or something else equally as bad. Davros was right about that. I _destroy_ lives. I'm a monster."

Following the Doctor to the door, John was appalled. "What? Why in the name of everything did you listen to that madman? Yes, you did all those things! Because you had to! None of that made you a monster! Donna on the other hand? Erasing her memories was the most SELFISH thing you've ever done! You didn't just get rid of the Time Lord knowledge, you got rid of _every single moment_ that made her a better person! She still in Chiswick?"

Spinning, the Doctor shoved his finger at John's nose. "Don't you dare mess with her any more! She has everything she ever wanted! A husband, money, and a life!"

"Ten to one, that life is as empty as the one she had before." Drawing away from him, John shook his head. "How _Dare_ you?" he growled.

Looking back and forth between them, Rose was sure they were going to come to blows at any moment. Stepping between them, she put a hand at each of their chests. "Stop! Stop it now! I mean it!"

One last jab, John said, "Time Lord Vic-torious?" he asked petulantly.

Looking to his feet, the Doctor sighed. "I can't change what I did, John. But all of that seemed to vanish after I regenerated. I don't understand it, but there it is. Ever since I threw you into the hand, it was like I'd gone off the deep end. I'm sorry."

"Truce?" Rose asked, looking back and forth.

"Yeah," John said quietly. "Okay."

Rose backed off and watched them as they came together for a hug, clapping each other on the back.

"You're better now?" John asked.

The Doctor nodded, letting go. "Yes."

"Found River yet?" he prodded with a knowing look.

Scrunching his mouth together, the Doctor briefly glanced at Rose. "I did, in fact."

"Know who she is yet?" John asked.

The Doctor just shook his head. "Enough of that. I need to go pick up Amy and Rory." Taking a step to the door, he pulled it open and went outside.

Following, John saw where they were and was ready to beat the living hell out of the Doctor.

Rose had a smile on her face. Brotherly infighting notwithstanding, this was turning out to be one hell of a good day. Engagement, Time Lords, Wow. However, when she saw John glare at the Doctor, she noticed the salty air and looked past the pair of them and saw her worst nightmare: Bad Wolf Bay. Her foot froze before it went outside the TARDIS. "N-no. N-not again. I c-can't. No!" Turning round, she ran up to the console and sat on one of the pilots chairs, burying her face in her hands.

Seeing her reaction, John rabbit punched the Doctor in the gut with his left hand. "You want to talk about thoughtless and cruel, this beach is it you idiot!"

Doubled over, the Doctor watched John go back inside. "Dammit. He knows _right_ where to hit me," he muttered. Blowing out a breath, he straightened himself up and went back inside. "What the hell is wrong with you two? It's just a bloody beach!"

Glaring at the Doctor from in front of Rose, John stood up and turned to the console. "Be a dear and open a door between you and your daughter, eh? Dumbo over there seems to think Rose can handle a third time at the Bay. Moron." The TARDIS grumbled her displeasure over the whole thing, and a door materialized in the wall. "Thanks, dear."

Rose noticed John's hand in front of her, and she took it before standing up. She let him lead her down the stairs and over to the new door. When it opened for them, she saw their console room and smiled slightly. Before she went through it, she kissed the wall. "Thanks." Giving the Doctor a look, she simply nodded, "G'bye Doctor," and went into their TARDIS.

The Doctor had enough sense to be upset at seeing tears on Rose's face, then looked at John when he turned to stare at him.

Unwilling to speak aloud, John thought to the Doctor. _'I know why you did that. Thank you, but that was very very cruel. You do anything like that to her again, and I'll personally introduce you to Twelve. Get me?'_

The Doctor nodded with a grim smile. "See you around, John."

"Yeah," John said. "Take care of the idiot Time Lord, girl," he said to the TARDIS, before entering his.

Watching the door shut behind them, the Doctor walked up to the console checking his pockets for Rose's key, not finding it. "What the?" Before he had enough time to think, something bleeped. Looking over, he saw the device he'd set up flashing. "Blimey Pond, can't leave you alone for a minute, can I? What trouble did you get yourselves into this time?" Setting the controls, the Doctor pulled the demat lever and sent the TARDIS towards what he finds to be a space liner that was about to crash. "What? Why can't I land?"


	14. Reporting In

**CARPE TEMPUS**  
_Chapter Fourteen_

* * *

As soon as the door closed behind him, John fell back against it. His mind was swimming with a slew of information, and he was doing his best to sort it out in a semblance of 'in order'. Closing his eyes, he grunted and pinched the bridge of his nose. A mental prodding had him stand up straight. There was a slight crackling behind him, and he rested his back against the reformed wall. Bit difficult, since it was curved, but he was more focused on trying to get his mind to settle.

For her part, Rose was trying her best to not break down. What the Doctor did was almost unforgivable. Turning, she saw John wincing and holding his head. "You all right?"

John shook his head. "No, but I should be asking you that." He blew out a breath and came out from under the overhead walkway. "I cannot believe he did all that. Then, to do that to you was just…" He trailed off when Rose hugged him. The way she was shaking told him that she wasn't all right at all.

"Phone," Rose mumbled into his shirt.

He looked down at her, slightly confused. "Hmm?"

"Gimme your phone," she said a bit louder. "Left a present for him."

Fishing it out for her, he watched while she stepped to the side and started texting. Shaking his head over the whole ordeal, he went over to the monitor and blanched. Grateful that it was still in Gallifreyan, he wanted to throttle the Doctor. On the screen was the exact date for when they first said goodbye on that beach. Sure, it was another universe, but still… the thought of Rose telling him that she loved him over there, while at the same time being lambasted by the memory of the horrible event? _Wanker_, he thought bitterly.

Keeping that to himself, he watched her stab at the buttons of his mobile with her thumb. The expression on her face had him thinking that she was telling him off. Just as well. Wasn't like the Doctor had to do something _else_ to force the issue. She made her decision, and the thought of her saying those words to him caused John to smile.

Finished with her mobile bitching, Rose turned round and handed John's phone back. "Should give him a start," she said with a grin.

* * *

At the keyboard, the Doctor just sent a message to the star liner. Simple thing really. 'Come along Pond…' Just enough to let her know that he was on top of it. He grinned and sought out the source of the problem.

Ian Dury's chorus of 'It's nice to be a lun-a-tic. Hit me! Hit me!' rang out from somewhere and the Doctor straightened up too fast, knocking his head on the monitor. "Gah ow!"

Scrambling around the console and swearing, the Doctor located the source of it and picked up Rose's mobile. Thumbing randomly to switch it off, a text message appeared. He read it with a frown.

_Dunno what happened to you, and I don't care. Don't you EVER do that to me again! Understand me? All the same, if you need us just call. Don't think of throwing this out either, cuz we'll just track you down again. And you could've told me about River. - Love Rose._

He read the message a few times, looking sheepish. Eyes darting around, he ended up pocketing the mobile. "Goodbye Rose," he whispered. Blowing out a breath, he went back to what he was doing.

* * *

"You did not," John said with a snicker.

Grinning, Rose nodded. "Yep."

Shaking his head, he went around the console. "Moving us to our present first, then side stepping over to Pete's office. Need to tell him about the Forge being the source of the British Petroleum fiasco."

Watching him flounder with his off hand, Rose came over. "Tell me what to do."

Grinning, John leaned over and kissed her cheek. "Thanks. Push that there, and turn that there. Now pull the brake off."

The sounds of the engines started up, and Rose beamed a smile at him. There was a thunk and he went to the monitor, pointing things out to her to twist, turn, or press. "Okay. It's the… afternoon the day after we left, and we're down the hall from Pete's office." Checking the chameleon circuit, he frowned. "No. No dear. Not a vending machine. Like to keep our sweets, thanks." He grinned at Rose's giggle over that. "Yeah, that's better. A door. Don't forget to filter it." His grin turned into a smile, and he patted the console. "There you go!"

Grinning her face off, Rose ran her hand over one of the coral supports. "That's my good girl." Even though she knew the TARDIS was sentient, Rose never bad mouthed her when she goofed, believing more in positive reinforcement.

Twisting his neck a bit, John cracked the vertebra with a sigh. "Okay. Before we go in, do you want this?" He arched his brow and pulled the velvet box from his pocket.

The smile she had before paled in the beam she was giving him. Giggling, she teased him. "It's rubbish, take it back." Poking her tongue between her teeth, she came over and presented her hand, while toeing the floor with her boot.

"Be hard pressed to take it back," John said with a matching grin, thumbing it open. "I mean, I suppose I could unmake it and toss the raw materials through the void, but it's not like there's a store I can get my money back or anything."

Smile dropping to shock, Rose stared at the ring, then at him. "You made this?"

John tittered. "Yep. Few months ago, actually. Kept trying to find the right time to ask, then the TARDIS was ready to fly. Was going to do it in front of Jupiter, but you know what happened then."

Tentatively, Rose took the ring form the box and examined it. The centre stone was a flat faceted opal, that shimmered with gold reflections from the inside. What looked to be small diamonds and rubies bordered the edge of the rather large centre stone. The band was wide, and was made up with a series of circles. Bubble like in appearance, she realized that the circles were Gallifreyan words. "What's it say?" she said under her breath, stunned.

Stepping closer, John murmured, "It's the fifty six different inflections of the meaning of 'forever'." When she looked up at him, he could see the tears in her eyes and rubbed one off her face that had escaped. "I love you."

Hands shaking, Rose put it on her finger before she dropped it. Then she threw herself into his arms, half laughing, half crying. John bore the weight with a huge smile on his face. He then cringed at her next words. "We're going to have to get earplugs. Mum finds out and the whole county will know from her shrieking."

"Yeah… Jackie does know how to shout, doesn't she?" John said, lightly swinging her back and forth. Letting her down, he kissed the tip of her nose. "First thing's first though. We have to tell Pete what's going on in the Gulf."

Straightening up, Rose shook her hair out of her face and couldn't stop smiling. Wiping her face, she nodded. "M'kay. He's going to notice though." Pausing, her mouth dropped open. "That's what he meant!"

"What?" John asked.

Looking at him in shock, she blinked. "You told them before asking me?"

Frowning slightly, John was a bit confused. "Had to get permission first, didn't I?"

Blinking at that, a snicker started up before Rose couldn't hold in her laugher. She assaulted John's mouth with hers, completely relishing the moment.

"C'mon" John said when she broke for breath. "Let's see which he wants to hear first… the good or bad news."

Grinning, she tucked herself under his arm and walked out with him. Pausing, she turned around when he locked the door. "Isn't that supposed to be a window?"

"Details," John said.

Waving at Celia, Pete's elderly receptionist, Rose spoke up. "Dad in?" She got a nod from her, as well as a smile.

"You're in a good mood, love. What's the story?" Celia asked her. Rose just grinned and thrust her hand out in front of her. "Oh, would you look at that! Congratulations! Go right in!"

Chuckling, John knocked on the door. "Oi, Pete! You decent?" Coming into his office, Rose closed the door behind him and they waited for him to get off the phone.

"Yeah, Jacks. I'll remember." Pete said into the phone. Looking up, he smiled at them and held up a finger. "Yes! I said I would! Gotta go, love. Yeah. Tonight."

"What was all that about?" Rose asked when he hung up.

Pete grinned. "Oh, you know her. Wants to know what time I'll be in for dinner." He stood up and came around his desk. "So! What do we owe this visit?"

"That depends," John said, rubbing the back of his neck. "You want the good news, or the bad news?"

Sitting on the front of the desk, Pete sighed. "Go on then. Hit me. What is it this time?"

Rose patted his shoulder. "Do you remember an organization called 'The Forge'?" When Pete shook his head, she continued. "Well, over here, they are… were…" she paused and looked at John who mouthed 'are' "… are pretty much Torchwood on steroids, with the whole technological grab and damn the consequences."

A flash of recognition went over Pete's face. "Oh! Anvil! Yeah, I heard of them. Got shut down a bit over a decade ago."

"Oh if only," John said. "Here, it's the Forge. And anyway, you know that whole British Petroleum fiasco in the Gulf? They caused it. Though, it should be easier for them to cap it now."

"What were they doing?" Pete asked with concern.

Rose got his attention. "They had the cannon, dad, and were using the spill to mask their experiments with it."

Reaching behind him, Pete brought out a newspaper. "That why one of the oil tankers exploded yesterday?"

Both their eyes popped wide. "Ooh, I didn't know that happened," John said. "Still though, that bastard said something about trying to harness void energy. So, if he was trying to siphon it, whatever was holding the siphon _would_ have gone up."

Nodding, Pete relaxed somewhat. "That explains why we can't find records for the thing. So, basically what you're saying is that we have to put the hammer to the anvil again?"

"Oh, that's a horrible pun," John chastised. Rose just rolled her eyes. "But yeah, basically. We just came from there. So, apologies if we smell of smoke or whatnot."

Pete waved that idea off. "You don't stink, but you do look like you're fit to burst, Rose. What's the good news?"

Biting her lip, Rose held up her hand with a small, muted squeal. Pete brought her in for a hug, smiling like crazy. "That's wonderful! Bout time, John."

"Oi!" John complained. "You know how hard it is to get everything just right. With everything that happens in our lives, I'm surprised I was able to ask at all!"

"Fair point," Pete said. "Got a date in mind?"

Rose pulled out of the hug and shared a look with John. "Uhm. No idea. He just popped the question, so I'm still in the rafters. Let's get back to you on that."

"Just thought I'd ask," Pete said. "Jacks will want to know."

Rose put a hand on his chest. "Let me tell her?"

"Actually," John started, thinking Pete was a good go between.

"No," Rose said, turning. "I wanna tell her!" John just held his hands up, acquiescing.

"What's with the blue, there?" Pete asked, noticing a hint of the snap brace on John's hand. "You've both got one. That some Gallifreyan thing?"

Laughing, Rose shook her head. "Nah, they're just braces. John broke his arm, and I fractured my hand."

Alarmed, Pete stood up. "What happened?"

"Head man of the Forge, bloke by the name of Nimrod, broke my arm," John said, then waved a hand at Rose. "She flipped out and beat the snot out of him, breaking her hand on a well hidden bit of armour." He caught her slight shake of the head, and omitted mentioning her throat.

"He locked up now, or did you do him in for hurting your man there?" Pete asked her.

"Might be done in. No way he could've gotten out of that before it went up." Rose said.

John sighed. "All the same, I wouldn't be surprised if he showed up again. He has a tendency to pop up after he supposedly died. Hopefully though, he's busy screaming in the void."

"I want a full report," Pete said with a meaningful look at Rose.

She sighed. "Can it wait till we've had a shower and some sleep, first? Adrenaline's wearing off, and I'm starting to feel a bit knackered."

Pete nodded. "Yeah, take care of yourselves. But I want it by Friday, right?" Rose rolled her eyes again, and he chuckled. "Congratulations you two. Now go on, off with you."

More hugs, and they were back down the hall and in their TARDIS again. John tapped the stealth button on the console to mask the door, and led Rose to the kitchen for some tea.


	15. Noble Intentions

**CARPE TEMPUS**  
_Chapter Fifteen_

* * *

"Bugger," Rose complained as she fumbled with the cups. They were in the TARDIS kitchen, and had to coordinate with each other over the prep work for the tea. More often than not, they were clinking things together. "Hate being off handed. I mean, we both are, but it would've been so much easier had I done up my other hand."

Grunting a chuckle, John nodded. "Tell me about it. Still though, at least we've got each other to help out. All the same, flying the TARDIS is going to be a bit complicated for a while."

Sitting across from each other at the small kitchen table, John apologized for sloshing the tea when he poured it. "Sorry. Okay, we need to talk about Donna now."

Fretting, Rose looked apologetic. "Didn't catch what was going on. Was a bit too busy trying to get him to stop smacking your heads together, then you from decking him over it."

"Percussive telepathy," John chuckled, shaking his head. "Must be a new quirk of his. Anyway, remember how I went round the bend last year?"

Rose didn't like thinking about that at all. It wasn't four minutes after they had arrived back at the mansion from Bad Wolf Bay, when John started having a fit. It was odd when it started, and he ended up spending some thirty six hours having a dual rant with himself at nearly full volume.

Oddly enough, her mother was the first to pick up on the fact that it sounded like he was having a telephone conversation in between ranting about breaking the time limit. John explained later after it was over. With all the memories he had from the Doctor, the recent ones were conflicting with the ones he had from Donna. Not having full control over his mental faculties, he spent that day and a half talking non-stop in an attempt to merge the two together.

Funny enough, that was how he came to be called John. Close to the end of the ordeal, of which he hadn't been left alone by anyone – _they took shifts when they needed sleep_ – John had been verbally reliving a conversation with Brigadier Alistair Lethbridge-Stewart over what to put down in the UNIT paperwork for the Doctor's name. So, John Smith was what they called him for a while, before he amended it to Johnathon Donald Smith. Seemed fitting to him, referencing Donna that way.

What frightened her the most was right at the tail end of it, when he looked up and shouted 'Stop it! Just stop it!' then fainted outright. All the same, she knew that this new man was the Doctor from his repeating things that they had done together, from both versions of him. What was completely disturbing was when he was repeating things in the voice she first knew him with, complete with the Northern accent. Sure, there were other voices. Most likely from bodies she hadn't seen before, but she wont even discuss Donna's. That was just too weird.

Frowning, Rose looked up at him from under her brow. "Yeah," she whispered. "Scared me half to death."

"Sorry," John said, reaching over to take her hand. "With Donna, it was much… _much_ worse."

Sitting back with a look of alarm on her face, Rose's mouth dropped open. "What happened?"

Lips pressed together, he thought about how to best explain it. Pulling out his mobile, he held it up to her. "For the sake of an explanation, say that this mobile is a human brain." She nodded at that. "Now think of what could happen to it when it's stuffed with the entirety of all the information, from every computer on Earth."

Slumping, Rose closed her eyes. "Oh God."

"Yeah," John said quietly.

"Did she die?" she asked, not looking at him.

"No," John said quickly, and she looked up at him in hope. "The Doctor blocked all of that out. But since he had so little time, he went and erased or blocked or whatever, everything that could possibly cause her to remember. That included every moment she spent with him among the stars."

Horror went over Rose's face, and she put her hands up over her mouth. "Oh my _God_, that's worse! Was that what you were talking about, before I got in between you? Should'a let you hit him!" she shouted.

Nodding, John took a drink of his tea. "Yeah. Thing is though, we may be able to give back some of it. Like doing a mental swap out of memories. I've still got hers rattling around up here, you know."

"You mean take all that Time Lord stuff out of her head, and give her back her own memories?" Rose said, fretting worse. She would've jumped on that a year ago, but now things were settled and she'd gotten used to things as they were.

"Could do," John said.

Rose shook her head. "I don't like the idea of you lobotomising yourself."

Furrowing his brows, John shook his head. "It wouldn't be like that. We'd just be trading out. Most of what she has would simply merge with the same memories in my head, possibly filling in any gaps that I might have. But she'll get everything back that she lost, without the chance of dying I might add."

"That's not what I mean," Rose sighed, looking away and feeling horrible again.

John squeezed her hand. "What is it?"

"I don't want to lose you," she said quietly. "Fought too hard to get where we are, and I don't like the idea of getting used to another personality." Glancing back at him, she whispered. "Got to love some of the new stuff, and I don't want it gone."

Sitting back in his chair, John looked at the ceiling in thought, somewhat surprised. "Could just copy them over, I suppose," he said. "I mean, it's not like I have to give them outright, now that I'm thinking about it."

"Do that," Rose said quickly, looking him in the eye.

Grinning, John nodded. "All right, we'll do that then." Draining his cup, he rubbed his sore stomach. "Tell you what, I'm going to jump in the shower and wash out today's to do, then I need to figure out what's shorting out in the console. The dear's been asking me to have a look at it. You be all right for a while?"

Pondering for a moment about joining him, she flushed and nodded. "Yeah. Good idea. I'll do the same." She mentally chastised herself over chickening out, but she didn't know what Gallifreyan courtship entailed and didn't want to put him off. "See you there?"

"If it takes that long, yeah," he nodded. "If not, I'll be on the couch over there, prodding the news networks over what cover story they dreamt up for that oil tanker going up." Standing, he flexed his back out, then leaned over to give her a quick kiss. "Thanks for talking that out with me," he said, still bent over the table. "May not have a mum any more, but Donna's about the closest thing I got. Or sister. Blimey, that's complicated," he frowned.

Giggling, she drew him in for another kiss. "Not to mention she's ginger," she teased.

"Yeah," he frowned. "Cheeky woman. Still though, ginger highlights are an improvement." Kissing her hair, he stood up straight and headed out.

After he left the room, Rose leaned down and rested her forehead against the table. "Dear God, if you don't help me get closer to him, I'm going to go completely out of my mind," she mumbled a prayer.

Answering her, the TARDIS warbled and jingled. A faint image came into her head of her and John passionately embraced. Smirking, she murmured. "Yes, dear, that's exactly what I'm talking about."


	16. Help and Encouragement

**CARPE TEMPUS**  
_Chapter Sixteen_

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_**A/N:** Fair warning: In three chapters, this will upgrade from T to M. Yes, I'll be going back to Shattered shortly. Ooh, that was alliterative. I have to bring my Master/Lucy muses back from the abyss. Dad's death knocked me sideways, and I think they fell out somewhere. *goes to look*_

* * *

In and out of the shower as fast as possible, John was in the console room with a fresh green tee and denim trousers. Underneath the floor grating, he was effectively duck walking around the lower section of the time rotor. Grunting, he made the mistake of trying to open the panel with his bad arm first. Mumbling some obscenities, he fought with it off handed. Sighing, he looked up. "Could you be a dear, and…" The panel slid up on its own, making him grin. "Thanks."

Leaning on the shower wall with her left hand, Rose was simply letting the water beat and massage the sore muscles of her back. The one good thing about snap braces, was that they were one hundred percent waterproof. No having to deal with wrapping it up with cellophane or anything. Grumbling and stretching, she tried to get every ticked off muscle under the water all at once. It surprised her when a second triple stream of water started up, and she looked over her shoulder to see a second shower head pulsating water on her. "Oh, thank you," she sighed, resting her head against the tile.

Tracing wires, John was busy naming off what went to which system, while doing his best to avoid thinking about what was going on in Rose's lavatory. He kept getting images of water sluicing around her in his head. Realizing, he looked up. "Would you stop that? That's very _very_ rude! Privacy and permission are the two lines I will _never_ cross with her!" He got a mental apology, but it was like the young dear was giggling at him at the same time.

Frowning, he went back to tracing the fault. "Am I at the right panel?" he asked, changing the subject. Something sparked from above, and he pulled his spectacles on. He actually needed them this go around, and the astigmatism annoyed him to no end. Sticking his head in, he looked up. "Do that again, so I can see it." The flashing pop made him swear, because sticking between two of the cables was a rather wide needle like thing. Realizing, he started to get pissed off. "Did this happen when Nimrod hurt you?"

The TARDIS replied with a shuddering affirmative, and his eyes involuntarily closed. Images of different locations popped up where fourteen others had been embedded. Fourteen needles… three from each finger, two from the thumb, and this big one from Nimrod's palm. From what he could see in the images, the others were atomized already. This one was stuck between two sensor relays, and doing the same to them would mean damaging them. "Fuck. Right, I'll take care of it. Just need some reverse callipers and a set of prongs." There was a shimmery noise next to him, and he grinned when he found that the girl had moved his red tool box next to him.

In the shower, Rose caught the fleeting image of John with a silly look on his face, before mouthing angrily at their ship. Eyes wide, she realized what was happening and bashfully covered herself, flushing pure scarlet from head to foot. "That's not what I meant!" she squeaked. "No hitting him over the head! Blimey. Subtle, much?" Warbles of apologies echoed around her. "No, it's all right. Just… that was _too_ much." she said in a low voice. This was going to be all sorts of embarrassing before the day was over.

Rinsing the shampoo out of her hair, she stretched her neck out and turned off the water. Glowering at the door, she didn't like the idea of stepping into the cold. Sighing, she pushed the door open and immediately hissed as she scrambled for the huge fluffy towel. She was lucky she didn't slip and bust her bum from how fast she went.

Getting the needle probe out of the underside of the console was proving to be problematic. There was a lot of swearing and apologizing involved, before John nearly fell backwards when it came loose. Glaring at the thing pinched in the thin prongs, he grumbled a sigh. "Okay, you can get rid of it now." He only relaxed when he saw it come apart with a glitter of golden light.

Replacing his tools, John looked back and forth between the small ladder and the toolbox. Weighing the options, he attempted forcing the toolbox out of the hole first. After wrestling with it for a bit, it suddenly vanished as the TARDIS moved it. Since he was pushing against now non-existent weight, he nearly fell over. "Bugger!" The ship warbled an apology and he shook his head.

Suddenly John was in the console room proper, having been moved himself. His previous position on the ladder had him in an awkward situation. His arms went round comically like a cartoon character, just before he fell flat on his back. Louder apologetic warblings filled the room, and he couldn't help himself. Belts of hysterical laughter rang out of him.

Rubbing a smaller towel over her hair, Rose came out of her lavatory and began hunting for something to put on. Going through the drawers, she realized that something was missing… namely her clothes. Frowning, she glared at the hamper. "Shit. Time to do laundry again," she lamented.

There was a rustle behind her as something fell. Turning, she saw that one of her shopping bags had fallen to the floor. Eyeing the satiny pink nothing that she bought, she immediately blushed again. "That's not… Don't you think it's a bit soon for that?" she asked the ship. Her answer was a faint image of John with a gobsmacked expression with his mouth open. Snickering, she looked to the ceiling. "What, you like the idea of making him trip over his gob as much as I do?" A chittering went through the room, which she knew to be their girl's version of giggling.

Rolling her eyes, she couldn't help but smile at the situation. "Oh all right. But if this makes things more difficult, I'm blaming you." Stepping over to her vanity, she pulled out a a drawer and made for some hair ties… which promptly vanished. "Oi! I need those!" she complained.

Suddenly, Rose was flashing back to that lift on New Earth. The air got really warm, and was blowing her hair up. Blinking confusedly, she noticed that nothing else in the room was getting whipped about, just her hair. It stopped when she started coughing from so much wind going up her nose, then the lights went out. "Uhh… what're you playing at?" she asked the ship. The lamp on her bedside table came on and she turned around, immediately stifling a shriek of surprise.

"No! No dear, I'm not laughing at you. Just the situation," John said through his chuckles. Sitting up, he playfully smacked the console. "Just let me know before you do that, right? Caught me off guard is all." He heard another shimmer, and started to smell some tea. Looking at the cup holder next to the keyboard, he noticed his favourite mug steaming. "Oh, brilliant! Thanks."

Baulking, Rose stammered out, "Wh-who're you? How'd you get in here?"

A blond headed girl of somewhere around nine years old, dressed in a purple hoodie and denim trousers, was grinning up at her. "Hi there," she said. "Got tired of trying to talk to you in your head, so I decided it was time for you to see my avatar."

"TARDIS?" Rose asked in a hush, completely shocked.

"Yep, that's me," she said. Taking Rose's brush from the bedside table, she patted the bed next to her. "Have a sit down, and I'll brush your hair out." Blinking, Rose walked over and sat down. "Stop fretting," the girl said. "It really is me."

"Can your mum do this?" Rose asked in a hush.

Frowning, the dear looked up at her. "_You're_ my mum. She's my Matron. And yes, she can. Just don't tell the Doctor yet."

Rose blinked and shook her head. "Phea?"

That question got her to giggling. "Nooooo, no, no, no. _No._" She held up the brush and twirled her finger. "Turn around and let me at your hair." Rose turned, and she started gently brushing out the tangles. "You want to get close to daddy, right?"

This was completely surreal to her, and Rose numbly nodded her head. "Course I do. Love him to bits."

"He's got some issues, but if you really want things to work, you're going to _have_ to talk them out with him."

"But," Rose started.

Sighing, the girl gently popped her on the back of the head. "Stop that. You have _no_ idea how _irritating_ it is to hear you both second guess yourselves," she said, fully annoyed. Turning her around by the shoulder, she looked into Rose's eyes. "He wants and needs you just as much as you want and need him. He's skittish because of his…" she stopped talking and frowned.

"What? Don't leave me hanging like that!" Rose said with big eyes.

She shook her head. "Talk to him. He needs to tell you why himself. There. Hair's done. Don't do anything else to it. Just slip what you bought on, both of them, and go to the console room." She saw the doubt radiate from Rose's face as well as her mind. "Trust me?"

Closing her eyes, Rose sighed. "Yeah, I trust you."

"Good. I need to stop projecting now. Takes up too much energy to do this for long." And with that, the girl vanished.

When the lights came up, Rose looked about her room more than a little self conscious. A warm gust of air blew through her hair slightly, and she grinned. "Really was you, wasn't it?" The warbling answer she got made her smile. "Love you too, swee'hear'."


	17. A Proper Shock to the System

**CARPE TEMPUS**  
_Chapter Seventeen_

* * *

_**A/N:** M rating in two chapters. Still though, fair warning… get your hankies ready._

* * *

Half the tea gone from a large gulp, John sat at one of the jump couches and stretched his back out. A small series of pops went up his spine and he sighed with relief. A rumbling clank echoed through the room and he looked up. "What was that?" A happy chittering filled the room, and the monitor popped on.

Getting up, he went to see what all the fuss was about. "Ohhh, a new room? Brilliant!" Tapping the keys, he couldn't bring up any information on it. "Hang on a minute. You tell me there's a new room and wont tell me what it is? That… that's just _rude_!" he said in a high pitch. An image of him hugging Rose went through his head, and he understood. "Oh, it's for both of us? All right then, I'll play along. She done washing yet?"

"Finished a while ago," Rose said from the door, biting her lip. She was barefoot and running her toe back and forth along the lip of the door. More demure than wanton, the pink chemise she was wearing had a sweetheart neckline and went down to her mid thigh. Her new satin dressing gown was a deep scarlet, and she only left it open on the prompting from their ship. Speaking of, she couldn't help but feel a bit jealous that John could speak so clearly with the ship, and wondered if he knew about her avatar.

Deeply worried about his reaction, she couldn't help but grin when she saw him turn around and blush just as dark as her new dressing gown. His mouth fell open in an almost mirror of that image that their ship gave her, and her smile spread wide. She couldn't help sticking her tongue between her teeth just seeing him like that. All the same, seeing him flush down his arms got her to thinking about what _else_ might be filling out. That made her pause slightly. _Does he even have those bits? We've supposedly got a daughter out of this, so it has to be something similar… right?_

All the same, seeing him eye her up and down like that got her twisted up slightly inside, and she leaned to her left against the door frame to give him a better look. "Hello," she said with a hesitant lilt to her voice.

Blinking rapidly, John shut his mouth with a slight clapping of his teeth. "_Blimey_, you're g-gorgeous," he said in a lower register. The effect of her hair loose like that, plus the colours of what she was wearing, made some _very human things_ happen to him. Swallowing to get control of his voice, he tried to regain some of his dignity. "New room, wanna see?" he squeaked with a smile, cringing at the sound of his voice.

Noticing the not so slight shifting at the front of his trousers reassured her of his anatomy, but hearing about a new room blew her right off that train of thought. "Really?" She patted the wall. "What have you got for us this time?" _Okay, good. Distraction. Seeing him like that will make me break some control over there when I jump him. Don't want to end up in the Dark Ages again, thanks._ "Where is it?" she asked brightly.

Clearing his throat, John tried his best to talk normally. "Uhm, remember that last corridor to nowhere? It's at the end of it." He watched as she turned in place, and came up to her when she held out her braced hand to him. Taking it gently, his gob ran ahead of his brain. "Do you have _any_ idea what you do to me, Rose Tyler? One heart, and I think it stopped back there." _Omigod, did I actually say that?_

Inhaling with wide eyes, Rose blushed just as much as he did and leaned up to kiss his cheek. "Do that to me every time, yourself," she murmured. _Okay. Good reaction, then._

The walk to the new room was far too short to satisfy John's mind. While they were walking, he shifted so that they were arm in arm to let up on the impulse to squeeze it, and was doing his best not to stare. He ended up glancing at her out of the corner of his eye quite a lot though. One time he caught her doing the same thing, and they ended up snickering at each other.

Stopping at the end of the corridor, Rose let go of John and opened the unevenly curved door. As much as the place was organic with coral, the light coming from inside forced her to squint a bit. "Oh my God, it's _gorgeous_!" Stepping into the absolutely _massive_ room, riots of red grass over slightly rolling hills had her mouth hanging open in shock. Young silver tipped trees dotted the area here and there as well.

Entranced at the orange 'sky', she completely missed John's gasp. Looking around, she couldn't tell where the room ended. Noticing something odd to her left, she padded over to investigate.

It felt like the world just stopped. John saw the inside and froze completely. Images of the Time War flew through his mind, and he ended up leaning on the door frame to keep standing. When he was still a Time Lord, he'd locked the other version of this room up after the war was over. Now though, he literally didn't know what to do with himself. Numbly, he followed after Rose as she skipped over to one of the many hydroponic growing rigs that were at the edge of the room.

The grass was so soft to her feet, it was like walking on a rather plush carpet. Looking over the alien vegetables, she wondered if this was what he was used to eating from so long ago and marvelled at the odd colours. Realizing she was by herself, she turned round to wave him over and stopped dead. The look of horror on his face, not to mention the twin trails of tears down his face, completely alarmed her. "John? What's the matter?"

Not getting a reaction from him, she walked briskly some twenty feet to stand in front of him. "John? Honey, what is it?" Still nothing, she was nearly drowning with worry. He was staring nearly straight up, and she turned her face in the same direction to see a pair of suns in the artificial sky. _Gallifrey? Oh God,_ she thought. Grabbing his hands, she got more forceful. "John, look at me!"

Feeling a tugging, John looked down to see Rose's concerned face. "I…" he swallowed and blinked, then tried again. "This is… this is what… what _Gallifrey_ looked like," he finally managed to get out.

"I'm here," Rose said, feeling a tear go down her face as well. She wrapped her arms around his middle and crushed him to her. All of her feelings of embarrassment from earlier evaporated as she focused everything on simply holding him. His shaking worried her immensely, and she flinched slightly when his arms slapped themselves around her.

Holding on to her, John buried his face in Rose's hair and was completely unable to control his trembling. A low moaning came out of his mouth, which grew in volume until he was howling with sobs. Unlike the Doctor, who could bury his emotions, Donna's influence over him made it to where he had _no choice_ but to experience everything at full volume.

Grabbing fistfuls of John's shirt, Rose was crying herself. She was horrified over his reaction, and had no idea what to do except hold onto him while he cried. She had _never_ heard this from him before, and it was breaking her to pieces. It was like he was actually grieving for the first time. And in all honestly, he probably was.

It was several minutes before John was in some sort of control over himself. Still shaking with emotion, he trailed kisses from Rose's ear to her mouth and simply devoured her lips. Rose fell into the snog headfirst, tasting their mixed tears and poured everything she could into it. Faintly in the back of her mind, she began to wonder if this was where they would forego their multiple room sleeping arrangements. That bit of thought had her swooning as his tongue slithered everywhere in her mouth.

Feeling her droop a bit, John let up and held her close. "Sorry. This was a complete shock." Finally able to hear the ship again, his head snapped up when he felt her appalled worry. "No! Don't you EVER be sorry for this! It's wonderful!" his voice broke at the end, and he shook his head over it.

Rose blew a breath out and swore she was going to faint at any moment. That kiss put all others to _absolute_ shame, and she was momentarily mortified over what it did to her. He was hurting, so the dampness that happened was completely, _completely_ out of place now. She desperately hoped that he hadn't noticed. Though with his nose, she wouldn't be surprised. All the same, she prayed he hadn't.

Finally in control of himself, he whispered in her ear. "C'mon. If this is like the original, there should be place to sit down up the path a bit. Since he was wobbly himself, he didn't notice that she was as well, and they held on to each other from the side as they went down the moss covered path.


	18. Finally Talking

**CARPE TEMPUS**  
_Chapter Eighteen_

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_**A/N:** The next chapter will raise this to an M rating. If you do not want to read anything like that, skip chapter nineteen altogether and accept my apologies. At 40 years old, I think the U.S. is completely stupid for omitting stuff like that if it's done right. Still though, they very nearly show what happens in Grey's Anatomy, so it's not like it's something new or anything.  
_

* * *

It was ten minutes later and John brought them up short, confused. "There's supposed to be a bench somewhere around here," he commented. Looking around, he couldn't see it anywhere. "Was under the oldest tree in the place."

Looking around herself, Rose noticed the top of a tree that was somewhat higher than the rest. "Is that it?" she asked, pointing to the right.

"Oh! Yeah, I suppose," he said. "Not used to them being so small." Frowning, he mentally kicked himself, and started them walking again, taking them off the path. While he was still in awe of the place, he had a tentative control over himself now.

Coming over the small hill, they saw a white love seat under the tree. She stifled a snicker, while he shook his head in amusement. The other was a wrought iron bench with wooden slats for the seat. This was more like something one would find in a living room, for pity's sake.

When they got there, he helped her sit before sitting himself. Being this close, they had no choice but cuddle together. Still though, it wasn't like they didn't want to. They sat like that for a while before Rose broke the silence with a whisper. "How big is this place?"

Looking around, John tried to get a proper estimate. However, since the dear blocked the information when he looked it up, he ended up guessing. "If it's like the original, at least a thousand acres or more. You could literally walk for a day and a half and only get to the centre of it."

"Blimey," Rose said, drawing out the word and thoroughly impressed. Curling her toes in the grass, she briefly wished she could lean back and prop her feet up. Answering that silent request, a matching footstool appeared in front of them. "Thanks dear," she said with a smile, kicking her feet up.

Grinning, John toed off his shoes and socks and did the same. "Brilliant."

Wanting to talk, but not knowing what about, Rose simply spoke the first question that came to mind. "Is it okay to talk about it yet?"

"Yeah," John said. "I'm in more control of myself now. What do you want to know?"

Flicking her eyes around the different sights, she glanced up at him. "Could you tell me a bit more about Gallifrey? I mean, I know you had two suns, but I didn't know the sky was orange, or the colour of the grass for that matter."

Nodding, he apologized. "Sorry, I should've told you more before. It was just really difficult."

"No, no," she said quietly. "It's all right. Just… I dunno, tell me more about it?"

Leaning over, he rested his head on top of hers and tried to think of where to start. "Well, it was three times as big as the Earth. Gravity was much the same though. The molten nickel and iron core was quite a bit smaller than Earth's, which is one of the reason's I like Earth so much. Don't have to worry tripping over myself quite so much. Was a bit clumsy when I was younger. Blues and greens were limited to mostly fruits and vegetables. The oceans reflected the sky and were orange tinted instead of blue."

Rose noted the pause, but didn't say anything. Instead, she turned her head into his shoulder and waited patiently.

"The colour of the sky was a result of the transduction barriers, which were the primary planetary shields." He paused, then said in a hush, "We thought nothing could get through them…" She squeezed him tighter when his voice cracked at that. Inhaling, he ploughed on. "Anyway, the third sun, which you don't see here, was miniature and manufactured by Omega to help defend against the ancient vampires from the Dark Times, and had a gravitationally locked polar orbit, always rising in the south from where I grew up. Both of the actual stellar suns were artificially kept as medium yellow G types, even after he disappeared. If they hadn't, one would've been a natural red, with the other being a quite radiant blue."

Rose drank in his words. She could listen to him read from a telephone directory and be satisfied. His voice just made her melt _so_ much.

"Two natural moons," he continued, "one like yours was tidally locked so you only saw one side of it, but the other spun about. There was a plethora of artificial satellites and stations in orbit as well. Some were for communications, others defence."

Patting his chest, she coaxed him in another direction, because he seemed to be slipping into the war again. "Tell me about the cities… the people?"

Grinning slightly, John remembered. "Loomed, the people were all genetically perfected and grown outside the womb, and not necessarily from bonded pairs. Even close friends could have children together, and it didn't matter if they were the opposite sex or not. However, after the Academy there were a very few who did anything except their duty. There were a few renegades though."

"Like you?" Rose said with a grin. He chuckled and nodded his head.

"As for the cities, most of them were domed. Some were actually inside spheres not unlike a snow globe. Like the TARDIS, the domes and globes were bigger on the inside. The Citadel was the capitol and in a globe. You could put all the armies of the Earth in one single quadrant."

_Damn. War again, _Rose frowned and tried again. "What about holidays, schooling, family, relationships… weddings…" _Dammit, I stuttered._

Turning his head to look down at the top of hers, John grinned. "Why Rose Tyler, I do believe you're fishing."

Looking up at him, her expression was of complete embarrassment. "Sorry, can't help it," she whispered with a cringing grin. _Still though, got him to smile. That's good at least._

"I suppose I could talk about the academy, but I think you're more interested in _dancing_… so to speak?" he said with a knowing grin.

Eyes round, Rose bit her lip and stared at him like a deer caught in the headlights. _God, he's worse than the Doctor in catching me out. What the hell am I saying? He IS the Doctor, just better at it._ "Uhm, can you blame me?" she asked, blushing near to match her dressing gown.

"No, not really," John shook his head with a small snicker. "It's not all that different from how it's done on Earth, actually. Everything looks the same, of course, so there shouldn't be anything different from what would be considered normal for you." Unconsciously, Rose pressed herself a bit closer to him at hearing that, which made him grin. "Still though, there's a bit more involved mentally."

Brow creasing, Rose had to ask. "Like that thing you did with my head that time?"

John's expression faltered. "Uhm. Yeah, exactly like that." Okay, so he lied to the TARDIS about that line, well… both of them. He broke a _whopper_ of a rule on that, but she couldn't understand how he felt about her back then. So, he showed her point blank in an act of desperation. Not like it was an excuse however, and he absolutely hated himself over it.

Remembering that first time made Rose swoon slightly, so she missed his frown. Just feeling that amount of love from him was a _gigantic_ wake up call for her. Had he not done that, she had no doubt that she would've been on her old team out in the field and hunting aliens, instead of working with him on the TARDIS. "Thank you," she said quietly.

"For what?" John asked, confused.

She looked up at him. "If you hadn't done that, I wouldn't have been so… receptive." The look on his face made her worry.

Cringing at that, he had to tell her. "Uh, Rose… I broke a rather big rule when I did that."

"How'd'you mean?"

"Permission is sacrosanct when instigating a telepathic connection," he explained. "I was more than a little desperate, and did it to you without asking first. I'm sorry."

Rose rolled her eyes. "This is me you're talking to. If you hadn't, I'd've been with Jake and the boys instead of raising up our sweet dear, here."

"Still though," he started.

_Ohmigod, he's actually _guilty_ over that!_ she thought. Grabbing his chin, she brought his head down so they were looking at each other in the eyes. "Listen to me, Johnathon Donald Smith, if I was mad at you over it, would I have asked you for a second go at that? Or a third? Fourth?"

Blinking, he was confused. "Thought maybe I accidentally made you want to," he said quietly.

"Oh please," Rose huffed. "We wouldn't have argued as much if you had. Stop worrying about that! You didn't mind rape me, for heaven's sake!"

"You got _all sorts_ of upset over the TARDIS translation matrix in your head though," he countered a bit louder.

Sighing, Rose looked at the sky. "First trip with an alien, thanks! Not like I knew what was going on! Now stop that!" she snapped.

"All right," John said, closing his gob. "All the same, that's something I would've been put in prison for back home."

She gave him a droll 'you're an idiot' look, and turned her body towards him. "Like I said already, this is _me_ you're talking to." With that, she shut his gob by kissing it. "Now hush up about that, and tell me more. I _really_ need to know. What about the head thing?"

"Uhm, well," he stuttered. "During the act, our minds would touch. But, I'm rather worried about that."

Blinking, she stared at him, completely lost. "Why? You're not going to hurt me."

John was blinking rapidly now and darting his eyes all over the place, completely embarrassed. His bad arm came up and started fiddling with the back of his neck.

Recognizing this, Rose rubbed circles in his chest. "Calm down. Just talk to me. I'm here. I'll always be here. What is it?" She rested her head on his shoulder again and waited.

"Well, uh… Gallifreyan marriage is quite a bit different from Human marriage, drastically different even. In fact…"

He was starting to babble, and Rose squeezed him tighter. "Slow down. Don't panic. Just talk."

Taking a few steadying breaths, John rested his head on hers. "The way it works, when its complete, is that we will know how to take care of each other as a new instinct. If you're hurt, I'd know it and vice versa. If your back aches, I'd know just where to rub _and_ the amount of pressure to use to make the problematic muscle relax. At the same time, we would be able to think to each other as easily as talking. Also, if you crave chips, I'll want them too, so sorry in advance if you want bananas," he grinned at that. "What it all boils down to, in the proverbial nutshell as it were, is that part of my mind would be in yours, and part of yours in mine."

Thinking about it, Rose couldn't find a single fault with all of that. At all. Still, though. "Is there a catch?"

"It's permanent," he said quickly through a rather large cringe. "Like the Catholics, there's absolutely no divorce whatsoever."

Looking up at him, she smirked. "Forever, yeah?" When he nodded, she smiled wide. "Sounds good to me. You did get a bit off topic though. Why the worry?"

"Actually, no I didn't," he said quietly. She grabbed his chin again and forced him to look at her. "I told you that to tell you this. I'm a hybrid, Rose. I've got two sets of male hormones running through me: Gallifreyan and Human. While progesterone doesn't worry me, the testosterone actually terrifies me more than a little."

"What?" Rose asked, completely confused. "Why?"

He had to close his eyes. Looking at her while saying this was something he didn't know how to do. "I honestly Do. Not. Know. what the combination of testosterone and ceratacialine will do to me in the middle of sex. There's every chance that I would immediately try to bond with you, no matter what you or I thought about it. And, with it being permanent, I simply did not want to risk you hating me over it. I couldn't take that, especially if we were linked. I love you too much to hurt you in any way, and that is the _ab-so-lute_ ultimate."

_So that's it!_ Rose had no idea what to say to that, she was so stunned, but it made complete sense to her. Coming to herself, she had to ask the obvious. "Is that… Look at me. Is that why we never got past kissing?"

John's face was completely apologetic, and he nodded. "Sorry," he whispered. "You deserve more."

"I deserve you," she countered, making him blink. Leaning up, she kissed him again. "I wouldn't mind you being in my head all the time, I promise you."

John's head jerked slightly, blinking. "Seriously?"

To answer that, Rose simply held up her left hand and showed him the engagement ring. "I already said yes, swee'hear'. Now would you please stop worrying? Even though you never said a word about this before, I can honestly tell you that there's nothing in the world I'd rather have than you." With that she stood up and took his left hand in hers. "Follow me."


	19. The Bonding

**CARPE TEMPUS**_  
__Chapter Nineteen_

* * *

**A/N:**_ This chapter is the reason for the M rating. If you do not want to read anything like this, skip this chapter completely and go to chapter twenty. Suffice it to say, that John and Rose consummate their relationship. On the other hand, you'll miss out on some interestingly funny bits here. So, it's completely up to you. You have been warned though.  
_

* * *

Allowing Rose to lead him up from the seat, John's gob was going faster than he could think. "Uhm t-uhh duh, Rose? There's o-o-one more thing y-you n-n-need to uhm know."

"Is it bad?" she asked with a smirk.

"N-no. Well, uhm. Maybe?" he frowned.

Standing there with him tripping all over his gob, it was all Rose could do to keep from laughing her arse off. The giggling was in her eyes though, and she waited for him to continue. "Well?" she asked when he just stood there.

"It's just uhm. Well… if, no… _when_ it happens, there will be a p-point where w-we will know ever," he paused and cleared his throat, "absolutely _everything_ about each other. B-bad as well as g-g-good. If there's _anything_ you want me to know beforehand. Nnnnooooow is the time to say some… something."

Biting her lip to keep from laughing, she had to think real hard. Her grin faded when she remembered some embarrassing moments, not to mention some _not so nice_ things from her past. "You first," she evaded.

"The Last Time War," John blurted, then his gob was off and running. "How much I hated Mickey in the beginning, Jack too for that matter. Every bad thought I had about Jackie. Wanting to beat the hell out of Robert for leering at you like he did. Robert from your old team, that is. The thought of jabbing the sonic in Adam's open port skull. _Hell_, I wanted to beat the living fuck out of every pretty boy you ever batted your eyelashes at!"

Unable to keep it in any longer, Rose snorted. "You _do_ realize that every single time I did that, I was _trying_ to make you jealous?" she said through her giggles. "Even _Jack_ was in on it!"

John's mouth dropped open in shock. "What? You… _What_?" he ended up saying in a voice _much_ too high.

Beaming at him, she stretched up to kiss him lightly. "I said… _mmmmph_!" she squealed into John's mouth. When he realized what she meant, John completely interrupted what she was going to say. He simply couldn't stop himself from kissing her hard at that point.

Breaking the kiss, he started haltingly shouting. "You! Cheeky! Wonderful! Glorious! Woman, you! I'm so going to _kill_ Harkness!"

Cackling now, Rose had to hold on to him to keep herself upright. "You said that he would 'dance' with anyone, but we talked the second night he was on the TARDIS. While he _will_ woo a woman every once in a while - even fall in love with one - he _prefers_ men. Jack was after _you_ the entire time!"

Frowning now, there was only one thing he could say to that. "He never _did_ buy me that drink."

Eyes popping out, Rose was hysterical now with her laughter. Grinning ear to ear, John was absolutely delighted to make her laugh that much. "What? You can't tell me you haven't thought about that."

Snapped out of her hysteria, she clamped herself to him. "No!" she shouted with a glare. "Mine!"

"Doesn't feel too good, does it?" he asked with a smirk.

Frowning now, she conceded. "All right, fair point. I deserved that…" She flicked her eyes up to look at him from under her brow, grinning. "Wanker."

Smiling, he brought the conversation back around to where it needed to be. "What about you? Any skeletons you want to get off your chest?"

"Uhm," she fidgeted. "Promise me you wont hunt down Jimmy Stone."

"Who's that?" he asked.

Staring into his eyes, she repeated herself. "Promise. Me."

"Not until you tell me what it is you're talking about," he said, shaking his head.

"No. You _need_ to promise me. I know how you get. _Please_?" she asked, worried now.

Concerned, but unable to turn down that look, he nodded with a bit of a pout.

"Say it," she prodded.

Frowning, he sighed and nodded again. "I promise."

Swallowing, she confessed something that only Mickey and her mother knew. "I dropped out of school to be with him." She had to close her eyes now, unable to look at him. "He… beat me… on a regular basis, and took what he wanted even when I said no."

Completely rigid now, John thundered. "HE DID _WHAT!_?"

"You promised," she said quietly, cringing at the volume.

"I… he… That was So. _Not._ _Fair_!" he was vibrating with anger now.

"If it helps," she tried placating him. "Mickey beat the living hell out of him when he found out. Put him in the hospital, he did."

Squinting his eyes shut, John focused everything in him to will that rage down. After a bit, he finally succeeded with a sigh. "I owe Mickey a lot. First thing, I'm going to apologise for calling him Rickey, or Mickey the Idiot, then I'm going to get him completely smashed at the pub."

Smiling sadly, Rose shifted their hug to put her arms around his neck. "Thank you," she whispered in his ear.

"God, I…" he started to say, then tried again. "_No one_ treats you like that. Your welfare is the only exception to the 'don't kill' rule. And I swear, if anything like that ever happens again, I will not be held responsible for my actions. You are my _everything_."

Rose held him tighter on hearing that. "Same goes, love. I mean, you saw what I did to Nimrod."

Chuffing a chuckle, John grinned. "Yeah." Blowing out a breath, he finally relaxed. "Anything else? If it's more like that, tell me now so I can prepare myself."

"Nothing like that," she said quickly. "Just be aware that you're going to get a few years of me being bereft with you on the other side of the void."

"Same here," he said. "I was lost without you."

"I _will_ admit to some confusion earlier today, but that was because of my pledge to the old you." She kissed his cheek, then nibbled on his ear, making him inhale sharply. "You're still my Doctor, and I love you," she whispered directly in his ear.

"I love you so much Rose, I feel like I'm going to explode sometimes," he confessed.

Pulling back to look at him in the face, she smiled. "Let's put that to the test," she said cheekily. Biting her lip, she sat down on the grass and laid back. Looking up at him with complete longing, she curled her finger at him. "John, come here. Please…"

Swallowing nervously, John knelt down, then made to lie beside her. However, Rose gently shook her head and pulled him over her. They stayed like that for a while, relishing the feel and staring in each other's eyes, before Rose broke the silence with a whisper. "We can stop any time, but if you don't kiss me, I'm simply going to have to strangle you."

Choking off a chuckle, John nodded. "Yes ma'am. And I'm supposed to tell _you_ that, dear." That got a grin out of her before he closed what little gap there was and slowly began drowning in her lips.

Feeling him like this, with him over her, Rose knew there was no way in hell she could stop herself. Not this time. He'd have to run off again. Still though, this was so much better than any fantasy, and completely worse at the same time. She didn't have a clue what to do with her hands. They both wanted to run their fingers through his hair, rub his back, and finally grip that fantastic bum of his all at the same time. Then there was the fact that it was only simple cloth that separated them. _God, what he does to me!_ she thought.

John was slowly going insane. Left hand in her hair, the other was gripping the back of her shoulder as tight as it could. That damned snap brace, and the reason for it was frustrating him. His grip was a pale shadow of what it should have been. He was unsure of what to do, even with two sets of 'dancing' memories in his head. And, one of those from a woman's point of view for pity's sake. _Gah, don't think about that you twit!_

As their kiss went on, each of them was becoming more and more aroused and frustrated. Neither of them heard the aggravated sigh their ship made over the situation. However, they _both_ noticed what she did next, as there was sudden air on his backside and skin to skin contact between the length of them. Feeling that made both of them groan into each other's mouths, and deepen their kiss. The ship grinned to herself, then placed their clothes behind the couch so they wouldn't see them till later.

Moaning loudly into John's mouth, Rose knew for a fact that there was absolutely nothing she could do any more. She wanted him _now_, and her legs decided that they were best served being around his waist, ensuring he couldn't get away period. They even locked her ankles over his bum. Honestly, she didn't care and loved the new arrangement.

As for John, feeling absolutely nothing between them caused him to involuntarily rub their skin together, and savoured the sensation of her breasts against his chest. However, when Rose wrapped her legs around him, he immediately felt the heat of her against him. His eyes rolled back in their sockets and mumbled a loud 'Guh' into her mouth.

Shuddering, Rose felt the length and girth against her and quietly peaked with the sensation. _Oh. My. God._ Somewhere in the back of her head, she was worried about the size of him, but the rest of her brain violently told her to shut it. Left hand having a solid grip on his hair, the other snaked down and lightly trailed her fingertips over his backside. She grinned wickedly when he bucked against her, and moaned from the delicious feelings that evoked.

When his tip found her opening, both of their eyes snapped open and they broke the endless kiss with a gasp. John looked to be hyperventilating and warring with himself. "Rose, I – I can't fight it," he said as his hands quivered at her temples. "I – I – I – I _can't_…"

"Don't you _dare_ stop now!" she growled with a glare. Pushing his resolve further, she slipped her hands up to grab his temples and nodded. "Please," she begged with tears in her eyes. She dug her heels into his bum and pulled at him, shuddering an inhale at the slight entry that caused. Seeing his eyes darken from brown to black, she nodded rapidly. "Yes. Oh God, John yes! _Please!_" she shouted desperately.

Unable to fight it any more, John's fingers connected to her temples forcibly, and his mind entered hers as his back flexed… pushing himself in from below. Both of them moaned low at the dual feelings. There was a crashing snap within their minds, and they felt the overwhelming presence of the other.

While his body slowly and automatically eased himself further and further into her, rocking slightly to make it easier, his mind was completely surrounded with hers. Rose keened, which morphed into a high pitched wail at finally feeling him inside her. After nearly passing out from the elation, she said "Mine" in a high pitched and lengthy sigh when he was fully ensconced in her.

"Yours," was his automatic response.

The 'dreaming' began in earnest, and their memories played out to each other rapidly. Their minds laughed with each other through their happier memories, cried with each other during their worst moments, and became enraptured as their minds anchored themselves in the other.

Eyes popping wide open, Rose gasped when she heard, felt, and saw John's Gallifreyan name of Metaxikalsigitismar sear itself into the core of her mind. The bubbled circles and hash marks of it somehow translated into 'Soul Dreamer,' and she found it completely fitting. She couldn't hold him tight enough though, and was lightly circling her hips to stir him inside her.

At the same time, John heard, felt, and saw Rose's name in English, as well as the Old High Gallifreyan symbols for Lupine Revenant. That literally translated into '_Ghost Wolf'_. But, when garnered against the stigma against ghosts, the meaning changed to_ 'Bad Wolf'_. Not knowing what that could possibly mean at the moment, he was completely distracted when she slowly swivelled her hips and he groaned deeply, leaning his head back.

The more she ground up onto him, the faster his memories played out. Most of them were like old photographs that were faded, or scratchy films. However, when she got to the horrors of the Time War, she cried out from the intensity. Not from the ugliness of it, but from what she could feel that it did to him. She saw him in a dark blue leather jacket and shaved head, with what she assumed as the face he had before she met him, howling in agony as he hit the final switch on a rather large weapon. Rose instinctively held him tighter when she heard Gallifrey's death screams go through his mind. _'Oh my love, oh my poor man! Oh God!' _she wailed in his mind.

Hearing that threw John into the darkest memories Rose had. Feeling Jimmy treat her like a punching bag and the abuse she had from him in bed, he railed against it. _'Rose!' _Then it flipped forward to every time she thought he was going to die. From the horror of realizing that his ninth body was gone forever, to Krop Tor, and through to Nimrod, he tried to reassure her, repeatedly yelling, _'I'm still here!'_

Their memories then synchronized with him clasping her hand in the basement of Henrik's and telling her to run. They saw the other's point of view throughout their adventures and laughed outright at how silly they had been. Realizing they both wanted each other so much, and were afraid to ruin what they had. The more they saw, the more they came to understand that they were absolutely _meant_ for each other.

When they got to the year 200,100, Rose gasped as dormant memories played out in front of her, _'I want you safe. My Doctor.'_ And then the unspoken thought that followed it, which stunned them both to the core. _'So my beloved can be born.'_ Their eyes snapped open to stare at each other. "Did you hear that?" they asked at the same time.

Realizing what that meant, they crashed their mouths together and couldn't get enough. Her hips bucked upwards, and she literally kick-started him into thrusting slowly. The dreaming completed in a rush, skimming over their horrid separation, and they were lost to the cravings of their bodies and souls while the memories of what happened after being left together resonated between them.

Something else snapped in their minds, and they could suddenly feel what the other one was experiencing. Knowing that this was the _actual_ bond link, John cried out in joy. This was immediately understood by Rose, and she laughed happily at feeling him completely, inside and out in every description.

Feeling the long strokes as well as the sensations of dipping into something exquisitely warm and tight with her clitoris, Rose was flying. John felt the somewhat alien sensation of being filled, but what he had from Donna augmented that. He abruptly changed tactics with those memories, and began grinding and swivelling his hips in the loop of an infinity symbol.

That slight change was all it took, because it immediately set Rose off and took John with her. His explosion sent her soaring higher with the new sensations of splashing warmth inside her, as well as the feeling of spasmodic pulsing, pushing the warmth out. Their peaks then circulated between them in a feedback loop that went higher and higher until they both passed out, screaming from the complete and joyful bliss.

As for the TARDIS… She was busy dancing in her matrix, and blaring rock music in empty sections of herself, she was so damned happy. Lights were flashing in a semblance of a discothèque in every room except the arboretum. Seeing the pair of them passed out like that, she covered them with a duvet and could not stop grinning to herself. _Yes! They did it! _


	20. Timey Wimey Stuff

**CARPE TEMPUS**_  
__Chapter Twenty_

* * *

**A/N:**_ In looking over the last chapter, I had to redo most of it. Guess my nervousness over writing stuff like that broke my grammar filter. Final Chapter! Thank you all for sticking with me on this. =)_

* * *

Between the three of them, Martha, Jack, and Gwen stayed with Phea around the clock in shifts. While Owen Harper was forbidden from stepping foot into the room, the rather bubbly and outspoken Toshiko Sato made food runs, and tended the rift monitor by hand held remote. It was completely surreal for Martha, but it seemed that Tosh and Owen would be diametric opposites no matter the universe they came from. What she found amusing, was that this Harper was pining after Sato instead of the reverse.

Leaving Gwen to it with Phea, Martha and Jack were busy devouring the latest Chinese take out in the conference room. While things were subdued, they still managed to crack each other up over things.

"He didn't!" Jack shouted with eyes wide as saucers.

Grinning through her mouthful of rice, Martha nodded. "He did. Mum didn't know what to do with herself. No one's told her off quite like that before."

"So," Jack said, picking at his moo goo gai pan, "do you still have a husband?" he asked with raised eyebrows. "I mean, Francine is nothing if not consistent."

Nodding, Martha's grin was quite large. "Yeah, the Mickster lives. But you should'a seen her, Jack. Ooh, if only I had a camera!"

Grinning, Jack leaned on the table. "Tell me."

She held up a finger and swallowed, chasing it with some soda. "She said 'You can't talk to me like that!'", doing a rather spot on head swivel. "And he said," she lowered her voice with her bottom lip out, "'Course I can. Who's the husband here, me or you?'"

Laughing like crazy, Jack smacked the table with his palm. "Did she slap him?"

"She tried," Martha grinned. "Has to be the first time someone caught her wrist like that, because her eyes bugged right out!"

A comical expression frozen on his face, Jack thought about it and tilted his head. "Has to be from growing up with Jackie." Martha smiled wide and nodded her head, giggling.

The intercom crackled on, and they heard Gwen. "Martha? Jack? Get down here. Something's happening."

Rushing down the stairs, they came into the infirmary to hear Phea groaning. "She at it again?" Jack asked.

Gwen shook her head. "It's different this time. She's mumbling something I don't understand."

Jack came up beside Gwen and looked down while Martha went about Phea's vitals for the umpteenth time. Hair almost completely blond, her clothes were softly glowing now. "What are you seeing, Gwen?"

Hands going out, Gwen motioned over her clothes. "It's getting hard to look at her. I know she's there, but it's like she's not _supposed_ to be or something."

Martha looked over at Jack from the biorhythm monitor. "A perception filter?"

Jack looked at Gwen. "We can't see what you see. Not yet anyway. Do me a favour and look through her jacket. Wallet, chain, whatever. See if you find anything."

Nodding, Gwen moved to the head of the bed when Jack got out of the way. Martha's eyebrows shot up when it looked like Gwen's hand disappeared. "Where's your hand?"

Gwen glanced up briefly. "Right, inside, jacket pocket." Pulling her hand out, it looked like she had something in her hand. Holding it up to them, they just shook their heads and shrugged. "S'her pocket purse." Setting the unseen object on the table next to the bed, she searched through the other inside jacket pocket. Hissing, she jerked her hand out and they saw a glowing trail fall to the floor with a clink. "What the hell is that? Nearly burned off my fingerprints!" she complained.

Looking to the floor, Jack couldn't see it. "Was it a key?"

Sucking on her fingers, Gwen looked down and nodded. "S'like it was on fire! Hold on," she paused, staring at Phea. "She's in focus now."

Jack and Martha looked at each other with dreadful recognition. "Her TARDIS," they said together and ran out of the room.

* * *

Rose's eyes unevenly opened, left following the right, and she felt a bit delirious. Squinting because it was _entirely_ too bright, she pulled the duvet over her head with a grumble. _Tha's not right. I pulled it up, but why didn't I feel it? An' where the hell's my pillow?_ Turning her head, her left cheek ran into something rather warm. Eyes popping open, her face morphed into a brilliant smile. _It was real!_ she thought, feeling John's pleasantly warm presence in the back of her mind.

Becoming a bit more aware of herself, she realized that the warm blanket wasn't a blanket at all. Giddy now, she felt up this 'warm blanket' and discovered that John hadn't moved at all from when she fainted. _He must've passed out when I did._ Purring, the heels of her feet felt somewhat fuzzy calves and she sighed happily. Then she giggled when she realized something _else_ was still in place.

A low murmuring grumbled out of John's throat. For some reason, his bed felt absolutely _delicious_. Feeling it move under him, his eyes opened to see blond hair over red grass through filtered light. Awareness hit him, and he felt Rose's mind as clearly as his body registered the mattress beneath him actually being the woman he loved more than being alive. Her giggling made him grin. "Hello. Ooh." He bit his lip when he felt what the giggling did to him 'down there'.

Hugging him with _every_ part of her when he spoke, Rose nuzzled his ear. Nothing in the world had prepared her for such an experience before. _God. Blew the top of my head right off._ The only thing she could think of to say, was a rather long and drawn out "Blimey," in a low voice resembling a growl. When John moved his head to look at her, she matched his heavily lidded gaze. "I love you," she said, still with that gravely voice. She was quite hoarse for some reason. Might have had to do with her volume from earlier though. His answer to her profession of love was a languid kiss that made her toes curl.

She pouted when he rolled to the side, and scrambled lazily to keep them together. Ending up on top of him, she sighed with a smile. _Don't wanna move. Don't wanna think. Don't wanna do anything except lie here. _God_, I love this man._

_'I love you too, my heart.'_

Rose's eyes snapped open again, and she turned her head to look up to see John smiling at her. Blinking mutely, she grinned sheepishly. _'This is gonna take some getting used to.'_

Kissing her forehead, John chuckled weakly. _'You'll adapt quickly, I promise,'_ he thought to her. _'In the meantime, words are so inefficient.'_ Focusing on her, he opened up his end of the bond, and sent every ounce of love he felt to her.

Gasping, tears dribbled down her face when she felt ten times the amount of love and devotion she'd felt when he first showed her a year ago. Stretching up, she kissed him and tried to reciprocate. Instead, the kiss faltered and her head came to rest on his soulder. She was sound asleep not two seconds later.

Chuckling over it, John leaned his head back and found that it rested on a pillow. "Thanks dear," he said hoarsely, before joining Rose in actual slumber.

* * *

Jack and Martha ran into the morgue, and started hearing something resembling TARDIS engines faintly. Looking at the 'car', they both turned their heads when they realized the noise was coming from behind them. Turning fully, they watched as a door came into existence next to the one they came through.

The door slammed inward and a very smartly dressed Rose came out, looking like she came from some professional job with white slacks and a matching blazer. It looked fantastic with her long blond hair. She immediately took Martha's hands. "No small talk. Where's my daughter?" she demanded in a panic.

A quick look at Jack, Martha led Rose out just as John came out of their TARDIS. "Hi Jack. Sorry, but I can't tell you a lot right now. Come with me. We need to sort Junior." Breezing past him, he went straight for the car. "Open up!" he shouted.

"Hello to you, too," Jack said under his breath. It surprised him when the boot of the car opened instead of the driver's door. Coming up behind John, he ducked down and followed him down the stairs that were inside.

Gwen looked up when Martha came in, followed by Rose. "There you are!"

Waving at her, Rose was in full maternal mode. "Sorry Gwen, no time to talk just now, thanks." Coming quickly to the side of the bed, She reached down and took her daughter's head with both hands. Closing her eyes, she dove into her mind. _'Swee'hear', it's mum. Can you hear me?'_

_'Mummy, it's dark,'_ she replied. _'Too dark. It's completely mad! Nothin' makes sense!'_ she wailed.

"It's gonna be like that for a while, baby. I'm sorry," Rose said aloud for Martha and Gwen's benefit. "It's almost over, I promise. I'll be here when you wake up." Kissing her forehead, she forced her daughter to sleep, then looked up to her friends. "Two versions are mergin' now. It's almost over, but there's about half a day left to it. Just know that she'll be all right. Thank you _so much_ for taking care of my little girl!"

Blinking, Martha realized something. "You look good for being some eighteen years older, Rose. In fact, it doesn't look like you've hardly aged at all."

"Can't tell you too much about it, I'm afraid," Rose said, pursing her lips. "'Bout the only thing I _can_ tell you is that I'm not exactly human any more." Both of them looked at her with big eyes at that. She grinned sheepishly. "You'll find out in about three days."

Flat on their backs underneath the console, Jack looked at John. "Why three days?"

"You _know_ better," John chastised with a frown. "Suffice it to say, _you'll_ _know_ when it happens. You'll have the biggest headache you've ever had in your life, actually. Fortunately, it'll last only thirteen point eight minutes."

"That's a hell of a raw deal," Jack complained.

"Live with it," John said while bypassing a circuit. "To be fair, it's going to be so far beyond brilliant, it'll literally knock you silly," he grinned.

Looking him over appreciatively, Jack had to ask. "So, what's with the suit? Thought you liked leather?"

"Hand me the retaining callipers," John said with a grin. "We just came from the church. Retook our vows this morning, relatively speaking that is."

Smiling wide, Jack barked a laugh when he handed him the tool. "Congratulations! Twenty or fifty? Looks to be ten, but there's no telling with you two."

Chuckling, John twisted open a different panel. "About the only thing I can tell you, is to put a temporal lock the files that Dr. Harper's writing up. Set it to open thirty years from now."

Jack baulked at that. "I'm so gonna fire that man. Thirty years? Why aren't you grey yet?"

"Find out in three days," John evaded with a grin. "You're a brilliant uncle, by the way. Just thought I'd tell you that. Spoiler free, that is."

Grimacing, Jack started bitching. "I hate causality loops!"

"You said that five minutes ago," John said, chuckling.

Blanching at that, Jack stared at him. "I'm with you guys?"

"Spoilers," John said cryptically, making him frown.

* * *

A few hours later, John woke up completely confused. _This isn't the arboretum. What the… Oh please tell me that wasn't all a dream,_ he lamented.

_'M'here,'_ he heard Rose think and felt her hugging him. Lifting his head up, he saw her blond hair in disarray all over his chest. Grinning, he ran his fingers through her hair and looked around.

Realizing they were in his… no, _their_ room by the look of her stuff interspersed around the place, he smiled wide. Thanking their ship for making them more comfortable, he eased Rose to the side. Kissing her cheek, he had an idea. "Going to go get some breaky, be back in a few." The sudden assault of the flavours of chips and chocolate made him chuckle. "Right. How bout a chocolate shake and some chips?" Seeing her slight nod, he grinned and got out of bed, then tucked her in.

A quick shower and a change of clothes later, he was in the console room. Moving the ship back to the pub location, he stepped out and immediately complained about the brightness of the sunlight. Hearing Rose giggle in the back of his mind, he grinned. "Yeah, yeah. Hush." Flicking his sonic over his glasses to shade them, he put them on and went to go get 'breakfast'. Didn't matter that it was nearly noon.

On his way back, he was sucking on a banana shake and carrying the bag in his right arm, with Rose's shake in his right hand. John was so deliriously happy, that he completely missed being followed. It wasn't obvious until one of his pursuers stepped in front of him.

"Oh, hello! Fine day for a walk, isn't it. A bit brisk, but…" His brain caught up with him then, and he felt the telepathic footprints of these two individuals, male and female. "Time Lords? Really! Oh, just look at you!" His smile threatened to fly off his face. "Oh this is brilliant! Pleased to meet you, and why-are-you-pointing-a-staser-at-me?" he frowned, finally noticing the gun.


End file.
